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Ptychodus04’s Fossil Fish Prepapalooza


Ptychodus04

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Super excited about this fish. Turns out it’s a baby Phareodus!!!!!!!!

 

This is some super delicate prepping. It’s fairly deep in the matrix so I can peel layers off with the Aro (ME9100 is too powerful) and then get right down to the fish with the Micro Jack and abrasive pressure turned way down, even though the rock is pretty hard.

 

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2 hours ago, Randyw said:

Is that a phareodus testis?!! That is so freaking cool! :envy:

Yup. Pretty cool. Even better, I spoke to the quarry owner and he said it is from a later called the Phareodus Layer that produces magnificent specimens. I picked it up in loose material in the quarry when we weren’t actively digging the 18” and Bottom Cap.

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Dang! You’re 4 times lucky on that fish! Maybe you should be getting a lottery ticket!

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7 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Super excited about this fish. Turns out it’s a baby Phareodus!!!!!!!!

 

This is some super delicate prepping. It’s fairly deep in the matrix so I can peel layers off with the Aro (ME9100 is too powerful) and then get right down to the fish with the Micro Jack and abrasive pressure turned way down, even though the rock is pretty hard.

 

 

Oooooooo! Those teeth look good! :popcorn:

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Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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Slowly but surely, it’s showing up. This prep is tough. If you bump the specimen at all with the scribe, there’s no forgiveness. So, the method is scribe a few micro layers off, then abrade at low pressure. Rinse, lather, repeat until you get down to the specimen. This is going to take forever. This pic shows about 4 hours of prep.E68D3F37-26BA-4FAA-826B-545A81645627.thumb.jpeg.8b7f755172213b5dade7cdaf86c05996.jpeg

 

 

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On 4/5/2020 at 8:59 PM, Randyw said:

Is that a phareodus testis?

I now think it is probably P. encaustus. The upturned mouth and the distance between the anal/dorsal fins and the caudal fin lends itself to P. encaustus rather than P. testis I think.

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I was going by anal to tail distance and shape of front fin... but I bow to your expert opinion. I could have been fooled becuase it’s still early in the prep too...

 

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@Randyw I think your labels are reversed on your images. P. encaustus is more slender whereas P. testis is more oval in outline. Also, testis has a more pointed "snout". I'm not expert on Phareodus for sure. This is only the second one that I have ever worked on.

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It’s possible I suppose I took the labels and pictures off the web.... a couple more..

66AA15F5-0EE2-4B73-AB24-802397E8ACAE.jpeg

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I certainly don’t take it as arguing. Understanding and knowledge often comes through debate. That’s one of the things I like about this place.

 

If I really wanted to know, I would turn my chair 100 degrees to the right and pull out Grande 2013 and look for information but that takes too much effort.:P

 

Here’s a current state pic while I pause my prep to eat dinner.

 

17ADF99B-4150-4A36-8ECB-8BF5345E99D1.thumb.jpeg.8773b725e68f2d74dbdd2dcee7c865d1.jpeg

 

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Indeed! It looks incredible! And to think it was nearly completely written off as a Knightia 

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