racerzeke Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Heeding advice from members here I decided to stay away from Brownie's and the cliffs due to the recent flood of rain that we've been getting (it's even sprinkling today) and headed to one of my favorite spots, Purse State Park! I stayed close to the entrance because by the time I got there the tide was already coming in, and I wanted to avoid the cliff-ier areas. The swimming snakes, cliff faces full of bees, and millions of floating spider webs acted as a decent deterrent as well! I actually walked a bit to the right and then on my way back walked past the entrance because of how high the water had come in... but as if it were meant to be I found my biggest tooth after I walked beyond the entrance! There was noticeable new material from the cliffs falling and down towards Douglas Point looked nearly impassable with a rather large cliff fall down that direction. And now for the teeth! I have one question about a tooth that I can't really identify. I am still new to the hobby and I am getting better about not going to Fossil ID every time something pops up but with not much experience sometimes that is hard! Only my second Otodus (maybe? I still am having a hard time with the Cretalamna's vs. Otodus) ever, still looking for that big one: My run of the mill finds, accompanied by a handful more that I didn't bother to take pics of: This one I'm a bit stumped but I'm sure everyone hear will have no problem with ID... it's fairly large so that's why I don't think it's just a Tiger or something similar but it's missing the cusps that would make it another species (if it were even supposed to have them). Any help would be appreciated! With finals finally over and a new kayak in tow I hope to have better and more in-depth reports this upcoming summer. I want to see if all of this armchair Google Earth imagery analyst pays off... haha. Just wanted to thank everyone on here because I've gathered so much knowledge even though I may not post much. I am still super new! Hopefully this is just a small start to the fossil hunting that this summer will bring! Almost forgot to mention that Purse is located in the Aquia formation of the Paleocene. Thanks for reading! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Glad you had some nice finds! I think the cusps may have worn off that last tooth. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 The first tooth looks like a cretalamna to me, the horizontally placed (if that makes sense) triangular cusps are what gives it away, Otodus has a much curvier root. Almost forgot, killer teeth! “...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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TyBoy Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Your last tooth might be an Otodus. It's missing the cusps. Nice stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeargleSchmeargl Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Seeing a lot of dentists out this week! Noice! 1 Every single fossil you see is a miracle set in stone, and should be treated as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToothMan Posted May 22, 2018 Share Posted May 22, 2018 Very nice teeth! Ive been meaning to get out to purse one of these days, but hunting in calvert county seems to keep me plenty occupied. Nice finds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerzeke Posted May 23, 2018 Author Share Posted May 23, 2018 17 hours ago, WhodamanHD said: The first tooth looks like a cretalamna to me, the horizontally placed (if that makes sense) triangular cusps are what gives it away, Otodus has a much curvier root. Almost forgot, killer teeth! I certainly can see that especially if the second is indeed an Otodus, there is certainly a difference in the root. Even using Elasmo as a source it's incredibly difficult to tell the difference! 15 hours ago, ToothMan said: Very nice teeth! Ive been meaning to get out to purse one of these days, but hunting in calvert county seems to keep me plenty occupied. Nice finds! I actually live closer to Calvert than Purse and still find a way out there occasionally! It's definitely worth the trip at least once to find a different variety but I certainly understand the draw to Calvert.... I wish I lived even closer! Thanks everyone else for the kind words! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoppeHunting Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Nice finds! Yeah, Purse's beach tends to do a disappearing act at high tide. Glad you were still able to get a good hunt in. Your first tooth looks like a Mackerel (Cretolamna) to me, but I could see the last one being an Otodus with missing cusps. It appears to have a bourlette. The Hunt for the Hemipristine continues! ~Hoppe hunting!~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 On 5/22/2018 at 4:18 PM, racerzeke said: Only my second Otodus (maybe? I still am having a hard time with the Cretalamna's vs. Otodus) ever, still looking for that big one: Nice tooth. It can be very difficult to tell Cretolamna from Otodus unless the teeth are fairly large because Cretolamna at Purse tend to be an inch or less in size and Otodus can be as large as 2 3/4 inches. At least that is the largest Otodus that I have from collecting Purse or seen from Purse. However, I have seen larger Otodus found across the Potomac River in Virginia. Your tooth because of the large cusplet size in relation to the crown size looks like a Cretolamna to me. 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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