Calico Jack Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Hi all, I was going through the haul of Amelia Island shark teeth that I collected as a kid, and I found a vertebra that I had forgotten about among the teeth. Its quite small, maybe half a centimeter the long way. I'm pretty sure the thing is roughly Miocene aged along with the rest of the fossils that show up on Amelia beaches (Although my understanding is that they are pulled up through dredging so I could be completely wrong!). Its pretty heavily weathered from the ocean so I'm not expecting a miracle here, but I'd love to learn a bit more about my (re)discovery! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike from North Queensland Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Part of a vertebra unsure weather fish or shark Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 It looks like shark or ray. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calico Jack Posted June 5, 2019 Author Share Posted June 5, 2019 Thank you guys! For now I guess I'll take the intersection of your answers and call it a shark vertebra!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peto Lithos Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 See if it looks like, when complete, it was a little oval or rectangular. This would make it ray. If it was a circle, it was shark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calico Jack Posted June 6, 2019 Author Share Posted June 6, 2019 @Peto Lithos thanks for the info! I had noticed that it was a little bit rectangular, so I guess that makes it a ray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 11 hours ago, Peto Lithos said: See if it looks like, when complete, it was a little oval or rectangular. This would make it ray. If it was a circle, it was shark. There are oval shark centra, Squatina is one example. Most ray centra are round. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peto Lithos Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 Sorry, my bad. I heard once that that was how to distinguish between the two, and I never really questioned it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 48 minutes ago, Peto Lithos said: Sorry, my bad. I heard once that that was how to distinguish between the two, and I never really questioned it. I've seen peer reviewed papers that claimed oval centra come from rays. I don't doubt that this could be true of Cretaceous and older ones but I still haven't seen an oval centrum on a modern ray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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