Jump to content

Clueless in Texas


caldigger

Recommended Posts

A friend of mine was hunting the N. Sulfur River in Texas and came across this piece of ?

Late Cretaceous Ozan Formation

Any ideas as what this is?

20190508_203823.png

20190508_203721.png

20190508_203639.png

20190508_203752.png

20190508_203850.png

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah! I see you are posting for [my friend too]. Just saw her at the DPS meeting tonight. She thought it looked like some kind of ray tooth, so she showed it to Roger Farish since he is an expert on Elasmobranchii, but he didn’t know. Not sure what to make of it myself.

 

9A75B556-0DA6-44B8-8BEF-17E7C64D410E.thumb.jpeg.f1c906c04cec71f74476acf9f6090780.jpeg97BED415-580B-47A1-81A3-43673ADDE384.thumb.jpeg.e1ec95b239a069ab3f93c968f220d354.jpegDD744442-9F4E-4E22-88EC-34E7D943E079.thumb.jpeg.db11b3817f3b965be6271b2fc148c6a1.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see fish there. More structurally complex in my opinion.

 

EDIT -- Any nautiloids at NSR? Fragment of an endocast?

 

istockphoto-476521405-612x612.jpg

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

I don't see fish there. More structurally complex in my opinion.

 

EDIT -- Any nautiloids at NSR? Fragment of an endocast?

38 minutes ago, ynot said:

I agree with a piece of a cephalopod shell.

 

 

 

No straight cephalopods there - too young. Cretaceous.

Doesn't look like a baculite or ammonite to me.

Fish fin ray pieces is the likely ID. .

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you everybody. I shall relay your assessments.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

 

 

 

No straight cephalopods there - too young. Cretaceous.

Doesn't look like a baculite or ammonite to me.

Fish fin ray pieces is the likely ID. .

Even so, I'm just not getting a fish "vibe" from this specimen. I'm looking at spatial and angular proportions and they seem "wrong" for lack of a better way to state it. Not saying it's impossible that it is a fish fossil, just that to me it begs further investigation. Would you say that the longitudinally centered segment is a portion of the spine? 

 

I'm intrigued by this specimen. 

 

EDIT: Which fish species are found at NSR?

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fragment of crinoid calyx?

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The North Sulphur River exposes Late Cretaceous marine formations.

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

Even so, I'm just not getting a fish "vibe" from this specimen. I'm looking at spatial and angular proportions and they seem "wrong" for lack of a better way to state it. Not saying it's impossible that it is a fish fossil, just that to me it begs further investigation. Would you say that the longitudinally centered segment is a portion of the spine? 

 

I'm intrigued by this specimen. 

 

EDIT: Which fish species are found at NSR?

Any of the Western Interior Seaway species. Xiphactinus. Pachyrhizodus. Cimolichthys. Enchodus. Martinichthys. Bonnerichthys. Pentanogmius. Saurodon. Protosphyraena. Etc. Etc.

 

skel.jpg

  • I found this Informative 2

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Seaway species.

Tim you really do know your fish . I think you have got it.   :dinothumb:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Bobby Rico said:

Tim you really do know your fish . I think you have got it.   :dinothumb:

Nah, Bobby.  Just a fast Googler. ;) 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I extrapolated the size of the fish according the approximate size of the fossil specimen and arrived at a min/max of 4 to 5 meters. I thought ok, that's large. I Googled Xiphactinus, and "Holy ___ , Batman", I'm convinced. It's just a cute little fishy fossil. Now I'm going to look at the rest of that list.

 

EDIT: We're gonna need a bigger boat. And now, looking at the asymmetry of the specimen, I can see why Al Dente would suggest that it was part of the caudal fin. 

 

Thank you, both.

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

I extrapolated the size of the fish according the approximate size of the fossil specimen and arrived at a min/max of 4 to 5 meters. I thought ok, that's large. I Googled Xiphactinus, and "Holy ___ , Batman", I'm convinced. It's just a cute little fishy fossil. Now I'm going to look at the rest of that list.

 

EDIT: We're gonna need a bigger boat.

Keep in mind, the image I posted was just to show the type of thing (fin rays)  I was talking about. 
So you can't really extrapolate by that.  The Cretaceous fish could get large, but that could be part of a tail, or any other fin. :shrug:

I was merely illustrating how the fin rays look, and what they consist of.  ;) 

 

Here are some fins of a small paleoniscoid fish (negative image) 

gallery_2806_718_273608.jpg

A bit similar to the fish in question.

 

 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Keep in mind, the image I posted was just to show the type of thing (fin rays)  I was talking about. 
So you can't really extrapolate by that.  The Cretaceous fish could get large, but that could be part of a tail, or any other fin. :shrug:

I was merely illustrating how the fin rays look, and what they consist of.  ;) 

What I said is that I estimated the size of the fish from the size of the specimen if it was a fragment of one of the soft rays -- in other words, my size estimate was dead on with your argument of what it is. I used a best-guess average size for all fins. I proved your point to myself, and now agree with your assessment.

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just making sure, Mark. ;) 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Just making sure, Mark. ;) 

Thank you. I appreciate the discussion. It's one of the best ways to learn.

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...