Shark, Ray and Fish Micros from two Miocene Sites in France

[MarcoSr]

I’ve been looking through Miocene matrix from France from two sites lately.  I’m posting a few pictures of what I have been finding.  Note the gem jars are 1.75 inches in diameter for size reference.

 

Site 1

I have not found many fossils in the matrix from this site.  However, I did find lower teeth from two species that I don’t find on the East Coast of the United States where I usually collect.

 

What I found in total:

 

 

Centrophorus aff. granulosus 3 mm X 3 mm

 

 

Deania aff. calceus 2 mm X 1.5 mm

 

 

Site 2

I found many more specimens in the matrix from this site.  Cookie Cutter (Isistius) teeth are very common in the matrix although most specimens are missing the roots.

 

Cookie Cutter (Isistius triangulus ) specimens:

 

 

The rest of what I found:

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[FossilSniper]

Some teeth can be beautiful, regardless of size  

[Gizmo]

Very nice Marco! 

[Plantguy]

Cool finds...interesting to see the Cookie cutters showing up somewhere else...thanks for showing us....

 

Regards, Chris 

[Archie]

Stunning finds!

[Al Dente]

Nice teeth. What differentiates your Centrophorus from your Deania?

[Phevo]

Nice teeth, do you find any Molluscs going through this matrix?

[MarcoSr]

2 hours ago, Al Dente said:

Nice teeth. What differentiates your Centrophorus from your Deania?

 

Eric

 

There are a number of subtle feature differences but the Centrophorus have the mesial cutting edge of the crown slightly serrated:

 

 

and the Deania have the mesial cutting edge of the crown not serrated:

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

21 hours ago, FossilSniper said:

Some teeth can be beautiful, regardless of size  

 

Some of the smallest shark teeth have the most intricate and beautiful features.

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

10 hours ago, Plantguy said:

Cool finds...interesting to see the Cookie cutters showing up somewhere else...thanks for showing us....

 

Regards, Chris 

 

Chris

 

I found 16 Cookie Cutters in about 1/8 th of a gallon of matrix.  So they are very common from the site.

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

14 hours ago, Gizmo said:

Very nice Marco! 

 

Walt

 

Thank you.  I wish we could find some of these deep water species like Centrophorus and Deania on the East Coast.

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

1 hour ago, Phevo said:

Nice teeth, do you find any Molluscs going through this matrix?

 

I'm seeing lots of small fragments of Molluscs in the matrix but nothing large or complete. 

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

2 hours ago, Archie said:

Stunning finds!

 

Thank you.  I especially like the deep water shark teeth.

 

Marco Sr.

[Fossildude19]

I appreciate your postings of micro material.   

It gives me a chance to see what I may never get a chance to see in person. 

Thanks for your interesting and informative posts! 

 

[MarcoSr]

33 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

I appreciate your postings of micro material.   

It gives me a chance to see what I may never get a chance to see in person. 

Thanks for your interesting and informative posts! 

 

 

Tim

 

There are so many vertebrate specimens that most collectors don't see or collect because of their very small size.  I wish I had more time to take pictures and make posts of them. 

 

Marco Sr.

[siteseer]

5 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

 

Thank you.  I especially like the deep water shark teeth.

 

Marco Sr.

 

Hi Marco Sr.,

 

I like seeing deepwater sharks too.  My favorite "Shark Week" shows are the ones that go looking for those.  I remember watching a show in which the narrator was talking about one kind of animal they had on camera but he completely ignored an equally rare-to-photograph Oxynotus in the frame.  That's a really weird-looking shark.  I completely forgot what he was talking about because I was so focused on the roughshark.

 

I have just a few squaliforms as well.  I had to trade for them.  It's that thing with collectors: there are specimens you hardly ever see for sale but you can find someone who will trade one to you for something you would not sell but would be willing to trade for something you don''t have.

 

Jess

[MarcoSr]

6 hours ago, siteseer said:

 

Hi Marco Sr.,

 

I like seeing deepwater sharks too.  My favorite "Shark Week" shows are the ones that go looking for those.  I remember watching a show in which the narrator was talking about one kind of animal they had on camera but he completely ignored an equally rare-to-photograph Oxynotus in the frame.  That's a really weird-looking shark.  I completely forgot what he was talking about because I was so focused on the roughshark.

 

I have just a few squaliforms as well.  I had to trade for them.  It's that thing with collectors: there are specimens you hardly ever see for sale but you can find someone who will trade one to you for something you would not sell but would be willing to trade for something you don''t have.

 

Jess

 

Jess

 

I was lucky in finding a collector who would trade matrix that has fossil deep water shark teeth in it.  I had to trade a good amount of teeth to get the matrix but it was worth it to me.

 

I've also been lucky and have been able to purchase a number of extant deep water shark teeth.  I would love to go to a Japanese fish market where they sell deep water sharks just to see first hand some of the species that we never see.

 

Marco Sr.

[Echinoid]

Beautiful teeth!

[ynot]

More great finds and pictures!

Got to love the deep water micros.

[MarcoSr]

15 hours ago, Echinoid said:

Beautiful teeth!

 

Thank you.  I really like the colors of some of these teeth.

 

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

2 hours ago, ynot said:

More great finds and pictures!

Got to love the deep water micros.

 

Tony

 

I wish there were more sites that had these deep water micros.  France has/had ( a number of the sites are now closed) a number of sites with them.  The west coast of the United States and Canada has some sites also.  However, it is really difficult to get matrix from these sites because collectors don't trade or sell any.

 

Marco Sr.

[sixgill pete]

Beautiful teeth Marco. And as usual well presented and photographed. I appreciate your micro posts very much. I really need to get back to searching micro matrix. 

[MarcoSr]

1 hour ago, sixgill pete said:

Beautiful teeth Marco. And as usual well presented and photographed. I appreciate your micro posts very much. I really need to get back to searching micro matrix. 

 

Don

 

I spend much more time in the field now collecting matrix versus surface collecting.  When I can't collect the matrix myself I trade for or purchase some.  I especially like getting matrix from foreign sites that I'll never be able to visit like this matrix from France.

 

Marco Sr.