South Texas Fish

[Ptychodus04]

Now that the eclipse shenanigans are over (until January when we have a lunar eclipse) it's time to get back to work. I have several projects starting up at once that I plan to rotate time on.

 

The first is a large fish from south Texas that belongs to @StevenJDennis. He sure has a rock thumb! We have yet to 100% identify it and it needs the puzzle pieces put back together but it looks a lot like a Bananogmius but it appears to have a short fan-like dorsal fin anterior to the large sail-like dorsal fin you would expect in Bananogmius or Pentanogmius. The only thing missing from this specimen is the caudal fin.

 

The worst part about this specimen is the matrix. It's so hard my CP9361 has to work to take this stuff off. I need @RJB's Mighty Jack!!

[Fossildude19]

[fossilized6s]

Now that is going to be a real stunner! 

[Ptychodus04]

The glueathon has begun. I don't have bar clamps long enough to appropriately clamps these pieces and the angles are a little weird so I opted for Paleobond (rather than PVA) then supported the back with some epoxy to help with any possible flexing issues.

 

Here you can see a bit of the fan-like fin I mentioned. This section will get glued on top of the skull to put the fin back on the main slab.

 

[Ptychodus04]

Here you can see the odd fin I mentioned earlier near the photocube. This section will get glued onto the skull area of the main slab.

 

[doushantuo]

need this,mebbe?

Taverne's reconstruction of 

[doushantuo]

life image

[Ptychodus04]

@doushantuo I think that Bananogmius paper might be very helpful... if I could read French.  

 

I don't believe this specimen is Bananogmius or Pentanogmius but it is something similar. The small first dorsal fin is weird and this specimen lacks the long anal fin.

[RJB]

Whatever it is, its a dang cool fish.  A shame no caudal fin!!!   Gluing back on some of those pieces looks to be a tuff job too!   Good luck

 

RB

[doushantuo]

 

Syntegmodus ,Luxilites, Martinichthys, Pseudothryptodus, Thryptodus  Plethodus., Zanclites ,Bachea ,Enischnorhynchus,
Tselfatia or Dixonanogmius,then?

[Ptychodus04]

11 minutes ago, doushantuo said:

 

Syntegmodus ,Luxilites, Martinichthys, Pseudothryptodus, Thryptodus  Plethodus., Pseudanogmius, Pentanogmius, Zanclites ,Bachea ,Enischnorhynchus,
Tselfatia or Dixonanogmius,,then?,

 

That's a very generic question. This definitely bears studying.

 

I'll try to narrow it down but once I have the prep done, I'll send photos to Dr. Shimada at DePaul University and get his opinion. He described the new species of Pentanogmius that I worked on in '09 and he's currently studying a new fish from north Texas that I prepped in '14.

 

 

19 minutes ago, RJB said:

Whatever it is, its a dang cool fish.  A shame no caudal fin!!!   Gluing back on some of those pieces looks to be a tuff job too!   Good luck

 

RB

It doesn't help that they are heavy too. Although, nothing near as heavy as your little fishy.

[doushantuo]

Keep us posted,Kris

[-Andy-]

@StevenJDennis has a good nose for special fossils for sure.

 

Can't wait to see how this fish turns out.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

Very nice!  Looks Eagle Ford-ish.

[StevenJD]

On ‎8‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 11:48 PM, -Andy- said:

@StevenJDennis has a good nose for special fossils for sure.

 

Can't wait to see how this fish turns out.

You seem to sniff 'em out pretty fast yourself  

[Ptychodus04]

Here's the fish now. 

 

Now that it is back together, I can see that it is dorsoventrally compressed and twisted (imagine stomping on the side of a coke can and twisting at the same time)!

 

The skull is split along the anteroposterior axis. This makes the oddball fin nothing more than a pectoral fin!  Unfortunately, two of the three diagnostic features for plethodid fish identification are either badly damaged (pectoral fin placement) or nonexistent (caudal fin base).  The features that would allow identification are all in the  top of the skull which is completely encased in the hard matrix. 

[RJB]

Are we going to be taking any rock off to show the top of the skull?

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

2 minutes ago, RJB said:

Are we going to be taking any rock off to show the top of the skull?

 

RB

 

Currently, no. this came from an old collection and supposedly, the tail section is in existence somewhere. If Steven can sweet talk the previous owner into looking for it, we might put the effort into a further prep.

[RJB]

  Another piece?   how nice.  That would be great!   Do you need me to show up with my buddys guido and bugsy?   Im sure we could persuade him?   Ha!!! 

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

2 hours ago, RJB said:

  Another piece?   how nice.  That would be great!   Do you need me to show up with my buddys guido and bugsy?   Im sure we could persuade him?   Ha!!! 

 

RB

 

That sounds like a good plan!