Mike from North Queensland Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 I came across this little oddity while searching through some matrix for some micro specimens. As per the tags it is from the cretaceous and the environment is marine. I assume from the texture it is fish but what? It appears to be complete except for the rest of the animal it was attached to. Views are top bottom and side of the same piece. At 3 mm long it is quite small. At first sight I thought tooth but if that the root is very flat and square. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Brightened and cropped a little. do you think the wide part is bone? Sorta looks like it. I wonder if it’s some type of armour with the pointed part being exposed on the creature? John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Very interesting Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixgill pete Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 It really does look like a paint brush. I have never came across anything like this is all the matrix I have searched through, and that is quite a lot. Lets try a few people here : @MarcoSr @siteseer @caldigger @ynot Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt behind the trailer, my desert Them red clay piles are heaven on earth I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers May 2016 May 2012 Aug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 Oct 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 I got no idea on this one. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Nor me. Perhaps it is a paintbrush? Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 A tiny paintbrush used by fossil fairies...how else do you suppose many of those fossils are able to have such fantastic colors. Other than the fairy conspiracy, I got nothin! Say, what's the deal with the little blue thread in every picture? Could it be from a pixie's clothing? Conspiring minds want to know! Just label it as a fairy brush and move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagebrush Steve Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Some sort of tooth with a weird root? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Hybodont of some sort with a very well preserved root? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 @hxmendoza @Troodon John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 It's a miniature paint brush used by giant ants. Need to soak the bristles in acetone to loosen them up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 2 minutes ago, Troodon said: It's a miniature paint brush used by giant ants. Need to soak the bristles in acetone to loosen them up Nice to know my guess has been confirmed by the experts. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Boy Mike finds the strangest of items. No clue...I don't think it's a tooth but it would be nice to find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 18 hours ago, sixgill pete said: It really does look like a paint brush. 17 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said: Perhaps it is a paintbrush? 17 hours ago, caldigger said: A tiny paintbrush 7 minutes ago, Troodon said: It's a miniature paint brush I have to disagree with Y'all. It is clearly not a paint brush. It is obviously a pooper scooper. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike from North Queensland Posted December 18, 2017 Author Share Posted December 18, 2017 Thanks for all the input and discussion. Firstly no clue as to what the blue thread was or now is but most likely still floating around my desk somewhere waiting to photo bomb again. So by general consensus it is very rare ignotus ipsis minima pingere tegam or perspicuum fecerit for short. I had the thought it may be a very deformed echinorhinus australis but there is no enamel for the tooth even though the root is similar. Its the only shark or fish with a flat root that I know from the area and this is the only one of these I have found out of a lot of material over the years. Mike D'Arcy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagebrush Steve Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 3 hours ago, Troodon said: It's a miniature paint brush used by giant ants. Need to soak the bristles in acetone to loosen them up Where is the UNinformative button? (I want to know because I am sure it will also be used against me with alarming regularity. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 4 minutes ago, Sagebrush Steve said: Where is the UNinformative button? (I want to know because I am sure it will also be used against me with alarming regularity. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilnut Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 It reminded me of a gar ganoid scale with the pointed end (peg). Scales interlock. I did check and gar go back to the late Cretaceous but did not seemed to occur in Australia. The ones I have seen don't have a flat end. But maybe it is broken or more ancient ones had a different shapes than the Miocene ones I have seen. That's my 2 cents. Hope someone can help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 11 hours ago, Mike from North Queensland said: Thanks for all the input and discussion. Firstly no clue as to what the blue thread was or now is but most likely still floating around my desk somewhere waiting to photo bomb again. So by general consensus it is very rare ignotus ipsis minima pingere tegam or perspicuum fecerit for short. I had the thought it may be a very deformed echinorhinus australis but there is no enamel for the tooth even though the root is similar. Its the only shark or fish with a flat root that I know from the area and this is the only one of these I have found out of a lot of material over the years. Mike D'Arcy Hi Mike, My first guess was maybe another squaliform shark, other squaliforms having similarly flat teeth of different shapes, but you say there's no enamel. It would be a lot to ask for some agent to eat away the enamel of the crown yet leave the more delicate root largely intact. Someone might say it is a tooth but it went through another animals digestive system and ended up that way. However, the "root" does look like it could be bone - perhaps some piece of a bony fish. I think Jean-Pierre Biddle is on the board here somewhere. He's seen a lot of Albian stuff from all over the world as has Mikael Siversson. Jess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 18 hours ago, fossilnut said: ganoid scale That’s where I was going. John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikaelS Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Looks like a pathological E. australis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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