Corsair Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 (edited) Hello! All of these are from two trips to the Flag Ponds Nature Park in Maryland I've made recently. Tried to do some identifying on my own with the Fossil Shark Teeth of the World book from Joe Cocke (ISBN 0-9715381-3-1), but there's so many to compare against that I'm not sure I'm even on the right track for the ideas that I had. And that's not even counting my few mystery teeth! Some more expert opinions than mine would be greatly appreciated. The first photo is all of the teeth that I found. Unfortunately, I seemed to have lost the little teeeeny tiny tooth when I was sorting through teeth in my identifying process, so there's now only 18. Which makes me sad, because the little one was my favorite! Handwriting translation: 1. Serratolamna ?? 2. Carcharias taurus 3. Hemipristis serra 4. Galeocerado cuvier 5. Carcharhinus limbatus 6. Alopias ?? All photos were taken beside a machinist ruler (inches, as the metric ruler refused to be found) for size comparison. I've tried to follow the guidelines for getting identification, but let me know if I need to add more photos. Edited May 9, 2019 by Corsair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 (edited) 7. Isurus ?? Or mako of some sort? 8. Not even sure this is a tooth, but there are some weird marks and dents that make me think it might have been one at one point. Or wishful thinking! The last is a few mystery teeth that I had no clue. Thank you everyone! Edited May 9, 2019 by Corsair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praefectus Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 Hello @Corsair. Welcome to the forum. Nice finds. I'm not an expert, but I've spent enough time in TFF's fossil ID section to tell most shark teeth apart. The teeth listed under #1 are tiger shark teeth. The middle tooth in #6 looks like a false tiger shark tooth (physogaleus). #7 is a lower Hemipristis tooth with the snaggles worn off. #8 looks like a rock. The left mystery tooth is a bull/dusky tooth. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 (edited) Thanks, @Praefectus! Looking at more photos online, I think you are right about the teeth from 1 being tiger shark. And the mystery tooth has been moved to the dusky shark category. As for #7, do hemipristis teeth have large bumps at the base of the "gum line", for lack of a better word? I'll try to get my camera to take a better photo to show the bump that is confusing me. Edited May 9, 2019 by Corsair Photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 -1 for #8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praefectus Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 26 minutes ago, Corsair said: Thanks, @Praefectus! Looking at more photos online, I think you are right about the teeth from 1 being tiger shark. And the mystery tooth has been moved to the dusky shark category. As for #7, do hemipristis teeth have large bumps at the base of the "gum line", for lack of a better word? I'll try to get my camera to take a better photo to show the bump that is confusing me. Yes. Hemipristis teeth do have little bumps in the middle of the root. Below is a picture of some Hemi teeth. The bumps are right where the two lobes of the root come together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemipristis Posted May 10, 2019 Share Posted May 10, 2019 8 hours ago, Corsair said: Hello! All of these are from two trips to the Flag Ponds Nature Park in Maryland I've made recently. Tried to do some identifying on my own with the Fossil Shark Teeth of the World book from Joe Cocke (ISBN 0-9715381-3-1), but there's so many to compare against that I'm not sure I'm even on the right track for the ideas that I had. And that's not even counting my few mystery teeth! Some more expert opinions than mine would be greatly appreciated. The first photo is all of the teeth that I found. Unfortunately, I seemed to have lost the little teeeeny tiny tooth when I was sorting through teeth in my identifying process, so there's now only 18. Which makes me sad, because the little one was my favorite! Handwriting translation: 1. Serratolamna ?? 2. Carcharias taurus 3. Hemipristis serra 4. Galeocerado cuvier 5. Carcharhinus limbatus 6. Alopias ?? All photos were taken beside a machinist ruler (inches, as the metric ruler refused to be found) for size comparison. I've tried to follow the guidelines for getting identification, but let me know if I need to add more photos. A few right, a few wrong. #1 Galeocerdo cf G. aduncus (the Miocene tiger) #2 Carcharhinus cf C. falciformis (bronze whaler/copper shark) #3 Correct! H. serra #4 Correct!! G. cuvier #5 Good guess, but I don't believe so. Carcharhinids are difficult to speciate as the teeth are very similar. The left one I believe to be another C. falciformis, and the right is a hammerhead, probably Sphyrna lewini (scalloped hammerhead) #6 The top 3: Physogaleus contortus. Bottom: H. serra 2 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' George Santayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemipristis Posted May 10, 2019 Share Posted May 10, 2019 8 hours ago, Corsair said: 7. Isurus ?? Or mako of some sort? 8. Not even sure this is a tooth, but there are some weird marks and dents that make me think it might have been one at one point. Or wishful thinking! The last is a few mystery teeth that I had no clue. Thank you everyone! #7. H.serra #8, not sure, LOL Bottom photo: Top tooth I'm unsure. I'd need other angles. Perhaps a cowshark upper tooth blade? (Notorhynchus sp.)? Far left: Carcharhinus perezii (Caribbean Reef Shark). The other two are Carcharhinus sp. lower teeth. If you think the uppers are hard to differentiate within this genus, the lowers are a horror show. All of mine are identified as Carcharhinus sp. 1 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' George Santayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Posted May 10, 2019 Author Share Posted May 10, 2019 3 hours ago, Praefectus said: Yes. Hemipristis teeth do have little bumps in the middle of the root. Below is a picture of some Hemi teeth. The bumps are right where the two lobes of the root come together. Oh, wow. Yep, that's the tooth! My online search didn't turn up many results with that pronounced lobe. Thank you! @hemipristis, thank you so much for the added input! And I'm pretty excited to have gotten some correct! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Posted May 10, 2019 Author Share Posted May 10, 2019 I took more photos of the odd mystery tooth, but the sun isn't cooperating today for much light so hopefully things are clear enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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