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possible tusk? Dugong like with sharp edges


dalmayshun

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Over the weekend a friend and I went out for a little gravel dig at a  stream near Northport, Florida, that is a little north of the Peace River and close to the Gulf shore. These are the teeth and other bits and pieces I found. He found a nice meg, a nice mastodon or mammouth tooth, ( I can never remember which is which, but he knows). Mine included a 1.5 inch mako, a broken piece of shark vertebrae, several interesting turtle pieces, a small but gorgeous sand shark tooth, complete with cusps, and this bone that looks like a dugong but its edges are both sharp...when I got it home, I realized it has enamel and so is probably a tusk of some time.  Can anyone fill me in as to whether it might be a tusk, or some kind of tooth. Thanks. (The sand shark tooth is about 3/4 " , the last photo is the cache of my keepers. 

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Good collection; Looks very familiar to someone who hunts the Peace River/ Bone Valley watershed. 

Not tusk, I have never seen tusk with that kind of "insides". It is rib, most times I think horse, but could be dolphin or dugong.. Tough to tell.

On your sandtiger, :wub: it seems a little more robust that the sandtigers I find... maybe a different tooth position or species. Lets get some shark expertise here .. @Al Dente@siteseer

IMG_3224Sandtiger.jpg

P1010033Sandtiger.JPG

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The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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58 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

Good collection; Looks very familiar to someone who hunts the Peace River/ Bone Valley watershed. 

Not tusk, I have never seen tusk with that kind of "insides". It is rib, most times I think horse, but could be dolphin or dugong.. Tough to tell.

On your sandtiger, :wub: it seems a little more robust that the sandtigers I find... maybe a different tooth position or species. Lets get some shark expertise here .. @Al Dente@siteseer

 

 

 

Most likely a sand tiger at a different position. The colors seem reasonably similar as well as the shape of the blade. however, the root itself seems slightly different in robustness. Which is the sand tiger species found most commonly here? In Miocene identification, it seems like carcharias to me.  Don't quote me on it though.

 

 

 

On The Hunt For The Trophy Otodus!

 

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2 hours ago, FossilsAnonymous said:

Most likely a sand tiger at a different position. The colors seem reasonably similar as well as the shape of the blade. however, the root itself seems slightly different in robustness. Which is the sand tiger species found most commonly here? In Miocene identification, it seems like carcharias to me.  Don't quote me on it though.

Good comment C. taurus.  I did some searching:  and found the dentition chart (below)

Uppers on left,lowers on right... Note the difference between right lower anterior and upper middle jaw teeth...

For whatever reasons, I have (mostly) been finding lower  jaw anterior teeth in the Peace River watershed, which seem to be thinner, less robust, etc. Here is an interesting TFF thread on the slim versus robust teeth that seem to be Carcharias.

ct_Hdent.jpg.3c09ff07daac15a97a6d3b732ac2c91a.jpg

 

 

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The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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thanks everyone for your comments. Especially appreciated the sharks  teeth chart. How very cool. Re: the quiestion I asked, I am sure it is not dugong....I have found hundreds of them over the years, and this looks unlike any of them... the dugong bones, ribs are usually pretty solid all the way through, and there isn't a thin layer around the edge. Admittedly, they could be the rib from another animal, but the thin casing all around the tooth, as pointed out by the blurb, sure looks like enamel to me. I am heading to the panhandle to help with some reconstruction shortly after Christmas, so maybe I'll arrange to drop by the paleontology department and have someone take a look, or better yet, I'll send it to them now, ask about it, and pick it up on my way through. They are always helpful there. 

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19 minutes ago, dalmayshun said:

the thin casing all around the tooth, as pointed out by the blurb, sure looks like enamel to me.

Could it be a thin iron oxide coating?

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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  • 3 weeks later...

I have found several bone fragments that are shiny and jet black like your first post. I think they may appear to be enamel but are tumbled in the ocean or river giving it it's sheen. If it was mammoth or mastodon tusk the end would show the schreger lines. (a cross hatch pattern) Nice shark teeth and finds!

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Laterally compressed, possible serrations in the first photo (slightly out of focus so it’s hard to tell), enamel, and what looks like a pulp cavity. Looks a whole lot like a Smilodon canine to me..

 

edit: The more I look the less I’m convinced. The second photo looks more like a mammal rib. The first and third photo look more like a tooth, in my opinion. Perhaps some more photos from all sides and a good scale will settle it. 

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general impression among others who have seen it in person is also as smilodon. so that has been quite exciting.  the county has produced other documented smilodon fossils. I do  plan to take it with me to the paleontology dept  when I go north next time.  it definitively has an enamel coating,  not something that has been polished by tumbling.  

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20 hours ago, dalmayshun said:

general impression among others who have seen it in person is also as smilodon. so that has been quite exciting.  the county has produced other documented smilodon fossils. I do  plan to take it with me to the paleontology dept  when I go north next time.  it definitively has an enamel coating,  not something that has been polished by tumbling.  

You would know best since you have it in hand and it's definitely shiny. That would be an awesome find if it is Smilodon! Good Luck and keep us posted. In the meanwhile maybe you could post more angles and sharper close-up pictures?

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