ShadyW Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 It may be small, but this is one of my all-time favorite fossils. I only rediscovered my love of fossil collecting in my mid 30s, when my children were old enough to be interested. As soon as I looked up our location (in England at the time) online, I discovered that I'd been living right next door to one of the best Eocene clay beds in Britain - Bracklesham Bay in Sussex. The first day that we went hunting the freezing-cold windswept clay beach we found only one or two little shark teeth (amazing finds for me at the time!) and this beautifully preserved, fragile stingray barb. It was my first taste of just how amazingly preserved some fossils could be, with every detail and every barb still intact after all these millions of years! Every complex scientific problem has an elegant and simple solution... and it is wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadyW Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Heh! I say it's a stingray barb, but now I come to look up fossil stingray barbs on Google, it doesn't look much like one! Bracklesham Bay is covered in fossil ray tooth-plates, so I still figure that's what it is, but if anyone would like to correct me, please go ahead! Every complex scientific problem has an elegant and simple solution... and it is wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 It really is an amazing piece! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Nice!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 It may be small, but this is one of my all-time favorite fossils.I only rediscovered my love of fossil collecting in my mid 30s, when my children were old enough to be interested. As soon as I looked up our location (in England at the time) online, I discovered that I'd been living right next door to one of the best Eocene clay beds in Britain - Bracklesham Bay in Sussex. The first day that we went hunting the freezing-cold windswept clay beach we found only one or two little shark teeth (amazing finds for me at the time!) and this beautifully preserved, fragile stingray barb. It was my first taste of just how amazingly preserved some fossils could be, with every detail and every barb still intact after all these millions of years! Your fossil does not appear in general conformation to be like any sting-ray barb that I've ever seen. I cannot see the details in your image. If there are barbs all along the inside of the curve, I would guess that this is a boney fish pectoral spine, perhaps from a catfish. But then, I'm going by my experience with Miocene-to-Pleistocene fish. Your Eocene experience may differ. ------Harry Pristis http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 ShadyW, I've collected quite a lot stingray barbs from the Eocene in Bama, and none of mine look like yours. I am not saying it is not one, but if it is, it's really different. Good find! Might be the fish thingy mentioned in one of the other posts. I'll keep an eye out and try to ID it from several sources I have here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cris Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I'll have to second the fish spine ID... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Im certainly no expert, but here is a pic of a stingray tail showing tow barbs. its not the best photo, but yuo can tell how strait the barbs are. Not sure if this is gunna help or not. someday, I may finish prepping this ray out? RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoRon Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 It is a fish spine. I have found quite a few in Eocene to Miocene sediments. Ray spines are typically straight and somewhat flat with barbs running down both sides the length of the spine. Many of the fish spines I have found have some type of ornamentation on the outside edge, usually raised lines or bumps. On some the inside edge has a shallow "U" shaped groove that runs the length of the spine. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 It is a fish spine. I have found quite a few in Eocene to Miocene sediments. Ray spines are typically straight and somewhat flat with barbs running down both sides the length of the spine. Many of the fish spines I have found have some type of ornamentation on the outside edge, usually raised lines or bumps. On some the inside edge has a shallow "U" shaped groove that runs the length of the spine. Cheers. Hello, This is a ray spine. http://www.mbfossilcrabs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Your fossil does not appear in general conformation to be like any sting-ray barb that I've ever seen. I cannot see the details in your image. If there are barbs all along the inside of the curve, I would guess that this is a boney fish pectoral spine, perhaps from a catfish. But then, I'm going by my experience with Miocene-to-Pleistocene fish. Your Eocene experience may differ. ------Harry Pristis Here are a few freshwater catfish pectoral spines. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadyW Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Very, very interesting! Thank you all for your replies. OK, so it has evenly spaced bumps (which I assumed were barbs) on both the outside and the inside of the curve... but it also has a narrow u-shaped groove running about 1/3 of the way up the inside cuve... Which means it makes perfect sense to me that it's a pectoral fin spine. I even have a Plecostomus in my aquarium that has a barbed pectoral spine not dissimilar! Sadly I found another spine that same day which was an even better fit for the description of a pectoral spine, with bumps only on one side, and a deep groove on the other edge... but it has disappeared since we moved from the UK. Still, this one's nicer! Thank you all again for your amazing help in identifying my fossils. It's incredible to find such a wealth of knowledge on this great site! Every complex scientific problem has an elegant and simple solution... and it is wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kauffy Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Im certainly no expert, but here is a pic of a stingray tail showing tow barbs. its not the best photo, but yuo can tell how strait the barbs are. Not sure if this is gunna help or not. someday, I may finish prepping this ray out? RB I think you should definantly prep that out! neat fossil! "Turn the fear of the unknown into the excitment of possibility!"We dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I dug out some of my Texas Eocene sting ray barbs (caudal spines). I always attributed them to Myliobatis sp., if someone has a different opinion please let me know. Stingers shown below; JKFoam The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I dug out some of my Texas Eocene sting ray barbs (caudal spines). I always attributed them to Myliobatis sp., if someone has a different opinion please let me know. Stingers shown below;JKFoam Hi, It is not easy to determinated it, but I agree , your fossils are very close to caudal spines of extant Myliobatis, the mine, I think it may be from Dasyatis http://www.mbfossilcrabs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hybodus Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Hi JKFoam, yes to your TX Eocene specimens being Myliobatis sp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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