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Micro shark, ray and fish teeth from the Eocene of South Carolina


MarcoSr

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These micros came from Eocene, Orangeburg Formation matrix from the LaFarge Quarry in Harleyville, South Carolina.  This matrix was given to me by Larry Martin years ago and I just recently had the time to finish searching it.  The matrix was very fine, what fell through a 1.5 mm sieve.  It was very time consuming to search the matrix because of the small size.  I usually only sample matrix this fine but looked through all I was given because it contained both oral and rostral sawshark specimens.

 

I found 14 oral and 6 rostral sawshark  teeth (Pristiophorus sp.).  One oral (1 mm) and two rostral teeth (2 mm & 3mm)are shown below.  Sawshark teeth are very rare from the East Coast of the United States.  (Note these are sawshark not sawfish)

 

5aad3583b263d_Pristiophorusoraltooth121mm.jpg.aee47e5ca1316d8a19befb2bca0edae3.jpg

 

5aad35857b034_Pristiophorusrostraltooth42mm.jpg.c62a05ac32dbc6569e79fef3ed65a2e3.jpg

 

5aad3584958e6_Pristiophorusrostraltooth33mm.jpg.17967eb44b138410b64d04af4815c136.jpg

 

I found a good number of Mustelus sp. (1 mm).  Mustelus are actually pretty common, especially in a lot of Miocene formations, but aren’t collected very often because of their small size.

 

5aad357f70754_Mustelus21mm.jpg.1e5ae043db6a738bc17cc33f4e085792.jpg

 

5aad3580c7ce5_Mustelus31mm.jpg.931c6486c64839c73091f78ad482e2b3.jpg

 

I found a single Dasyatis sp. (1 mm)

 

5aad3579dd9db_Dasyatis1mm.thumb.jpg.364f890ed1fcc80a49149309570b1e44.jpg

 

A nice Heterodontus juvenile anterior tooth (1 mm)

 

5aad357de715b_Heterodontusanteriortooth1mm.jpg.0e3bb3a22ad42ed02bad557bd6006ce0.jpg

 

Lots of catshark teeth (1 mm – 1.5 mm)

 

5aad357d173b3_Foumtiziasp.1_5mm.jpg.8c3399e15ecec87a7d2fc90a588de8dd.jpg

 

5aad357676905_Catshark31_5mm.thumb.jpg.e1bd97420280078dbca84126dbc6052a.jpg

 

5aad3578473da_Catshark51_5mm.jpg.66d881c3c526e51b6eeba467d81e2d2f.jpg

 

5aad35740cd6e_Catshark1_5mm.thumb.jpg.48227616c4cce81ee48a5e24bf4c9ce0.jpg

 

5aad35775255b_Catshark41mm.jpg.d4281f763fd8e9947b00c821a4a1cff3.jpg

 

5aad3574e744e_Catshark21mm.jpg.3da3a115fb9fd8ddb5652bc603b91999.jpg

 

Lots of different fish teeth (Note the fish teeth are in a 1 inch diameter gem jar)

 

5aad357bb2a80_Fishteeth.thumb.JPG.685bb3babfbec6162e6e6a3e3eb696ef.JPG

 

Lots of placoid scales (less than 1 mm) and a few ray dermal denticles (1 mm).

5aad35885ea78_sharkandrayplacoidscalesanddermaldenticles.thumb.JPG.20aa3382ab227630c13e625ea876bd44.JPG

 

Placoid scale

 

5aad358258245_Placoidscale1mm.thumb.jpg.bb652083837681d308883f3a8018e47f.jpg

 

Dermal Denticle

 

5aad35865e6ae_raydermaldentical1mm.jpg.3a56178e3f60a5fee0b27d37c5d8acdb.jpg

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

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Wonderful selection of finds!:thumbsu:

Thanks for sharing.

 

I have been going through some of the super fine STH matrix. Lots of neat finds in it.

Will try to get a thread up in a week or so.

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.

 

 

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I find these micro bits fascinating. 

Must get round to checking for some myself.

Thank you for posting. :)

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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That’s really cool. I have some raw matrix from there that I still need to go through 

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Thank you for posting these, Marco. Highly informative, as always.

Start the day with a smile and get it over with.

 

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2 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I find these micro bits fascinating. 

Must get round to checking for some myself.

Thank you for posting. :)

 

In some faunas most of the species have small teeth like these.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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1 hour ago, TNCollector said:

That’s really cool. I have some raw matrix from there that I still need to go through 

 

I looked through a lot of self collected matrix from the Harleyville Quarry but I only found Pristiophorus specimens in the matrix that I got from Larry Martin years ago.  Their oral teeth are really small, around 1 mm, so you need to look at pretty fine matrix to find them.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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1 hour ago, Pagurus said:

Thank you for posting these, Marco. Highly informative, as always.

 

Mike

 

Your recent micro post gave me the incentive to make this post.  I just wish I had the time and patience to make up cards like you did with your pictures of your micros.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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Super cool! Makes me wonder how many things I've let fall through my 1/4 inch screen...Hoppe hunting!

The Hunt for the Hemipristine continues!

~Hoppe hunting!~

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2 hours ago, ynot said:

Wonderful selection of finds!:thumbsu:

Thanks for sharing.

 

I have been going through some of the super fine STH matrix. Lots of neat finds in it.

Will try to get a thread up in a week or so.

 

Tony

 

TFF glitch monster must have eaten my first reply because it isn't showing up.  Trying again:

 

I look forward to your post.  The STH matrix does have a lot of really small specimens but it takes a lot of time and patience to look through the very fine matrix.

 

Marco

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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3 minutes ago, HoppeHunting said:

Super cool! Makes me wonder how many things I've let fall through my 1/4 inch screen...Hoppe hunting!

 

You should take a sample home to search of some of the material that falls through your 1/4 screen (catch some with window screen).  In some faunas there won't be much in the small matrix that falls through.  In others, there will be lots of specimens.  Sampling will tell you if taking the smaller matrix is worth the effort.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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Wonderful work, Marko. Thanks for another superb write-up!

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Very informative, and fun to look at. I always though Trichurides where cool!

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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50 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

 

I looked through a lot of self collected matrix from the Harleyville Quarry but I only found Pristiophorus specimens in the matrix that I got from Larry Martin years ago.  Their oral teeth are really small, around 1 mm, so you need to look at pretty fine matrix to find them.

 

Marco Sr.

I collected this material a few months ago from some spoil piles from the quarry. It looks pretty rich in fossils, so I have high hopes from it.

 

i still have to finish going through some hell creek micro matrix. All of the specimens are smaller than 3mm so it takes a long time to go through it lol

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1 hour ago, WhodamanHD said:

Very informative, and fun to look at. I always though Trichurides where cool!

 

There were a number of cool fish teeth from this matrix.  I wish I had the time to take individual pictures of them.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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1 hour ago, TNCollector said:

I collected this material a few months ago from some spoil piles from the quarry. It looks pretty rich in fossils, so I have high hopes from it.

 

i still have to finish going through some hell creek micro matrix. All of the specimens are smaller than 3mm so it takes a long time to go through it lol

 

I haven't been back to Harleyville in quite a while.  Good luck with your matrix.

 

Hell Creek matrix has a very good variety of really neat specimens (amphibian, fish, mammal, dinosaur, reptile).  Unfortunately I don't get to sites where I can collect Hell Creek matrix.  I do get to collect Lance Creek matrix on occasion in Wyoming.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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1 hour ago, MarcoSr said:

 

There were a number of cool fish teeth from this matrix.  I wish I had the time to take individual pictures of them.

 

Marco Sr.

I know the feeling, I’ve tried many times to photo catalog my collection but it rarely succeeds very far. So many fossils, so little time.

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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2 hours ago, WhodamanHD said:

I know the feeling, I’ve tried many times to photo catalog my collection but it rarely succeeds very far. So many fossils, so little time.

 

Yes, I would much rather find fossils then document them.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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Amazing photos as always Marco:) I’ve never seen sawfish oral teeth before. The cat shark teeth are interesting as well

Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there!

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10 hours ago, jcbshark said:

Amazing photos as always Marco:) I’ve never seen sawfish oral teeth before. The cat shark teeth are interesting as well

 

Jeff

 

These are the first and only sawshark oral teeth that I've found and I've spent many years searching matrix from around the world.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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10 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

 

Jeff

 

These are the first and only sawshark oral teeth that I've found and I've spent many years searching matrix from around the world.

 

Marco Sr.

 

Hi MarcoSr,

 

I've seen Pristiophorus rostral teeth from only a few localities and oral teeth from just two:  Pyramid Hill, California (same size range) and at least one of the Atacama Desert sites in Chile.  The Chilean rostral spines were widely available for a while and you can still get them from from a few dealers.  These spines are larger than the ones I had seen out of Pyramid Hill and Peru and the oral teeth are larger too (4-5 mm wide and 3-4mm high).

 

Jess   

 

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On 3/17/2018 at 11:40 AM, MarcoSr said:

 

I looked through a lot of self collected matrix from the Harleyville Quarry but I only found Pristiophorus specimens in the matrix that I got from Larry Martin years ago.  Their oral teeth are really small, around 1 mm, so you need to look at pretty fine matrix to find them.

 

Marco Sr.

 

By the late 90's Larry was really into micro teeth.  He enjoyed screening matrix he acquired.  I think his Harleyville matrix came from the "greencap."  He had some micros from the Chandler Bridge Formation as well.

 

Jess

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