What is this? Croc scute?

[Still_human]

Can anyone identify this for me? I would think it was a crocodile scute, except Ive never seen that shape before. 

[fossilized6s]

Looks fishy. Scale maybe?

[Still_human]

41 minutes ago, fossilized6s said:

Looks fishy. Scale maybe?

Hmm, that never would've occurred to me! Thanks, its sure shaped like a fish scale, alright! I'm no ancient fish expert, so I have no idea what, if any, had scales with that texture, though. Hopefully someone else will, if it is a scale.

[Fossildude19]

See this thread.

 

 

[Still_human]

5 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

See this thread.

 

 

Thank you, that's cool, Ive never seen fish scales like that. Sadly it can't be the same answer as those though, because these are Cretaceous:/ but at least now I know it's definitely a possible fish too. Has anyone ever seen crocodile scutes this shape? Maybe I can eliminate them and narrow it to just fish!

[jdp]

Looks like a sturgeon scute to me.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Sturgeon scutes.

 

[Still_human]

12 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Sturgeon scutes.

 

Wow, that's really close! I'll hafta check and see if those are found at khouribga.

 

[Still_human]

I can't find any mention. I always have trouble finding somewhere that has the information easily offered. Usually a site will just mention 1 or 2 things found somewhere. Or if I'm lucky, it'll mention 1 or 2 of multiple types of animals found there. I don't know if Ive EVER found somewhere that actually lists the animals found at a site, or even mentions them all, even if it turns out there were only half a dozen major animals, or something:( 

[Miocene_Mason]

Lots of fish in Morocco, and it looks very fishy. They do have a few lungfish.

[NCSTer]

Also has some resemblance to a ray scute.

[Still_human]

15 hours ago, WhodamanHD said:

Lots of fish in Morocco, and it looks very fishy. They do have a few lungfish.

Ive done a ton of searching now, and I still can't find a match. The closest thing so far, which IS actually pretty close, is a sturgeon scale. They have totally different shapes at the base/back, which I don't think would change along the fish, but Ive seen sturgeon scales that DO have very different back/bases(different species?) just not exactly like this one.

[Anomotodon]

Depending on the texture, might also be a turtle scute. Can you post pictures of the cross section?

 

By the way, the most reliable source of information about fossils are papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Go to Google Scholar/NCBI/Sci-Hub or other similar resources and type the keywords there to find academic papers on a specific topic, such as fossil ichthyofauna from the Maastrichthian of Morocco. To be entirely sure about species level ID you should compare your specimen to holotypes - find out which paper described for the first time your species of interest. Identifications of sellers or amateur paleontologists posting on their websites are not always accurate.

[ynot]

Looks to thin to be a ray or turtle piece.

I agree with the fish scale ID.