digit Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 I find these items quite regularly in the Cookiecutter Creek micro-matrix. Mostly, these are smaller or partial but this one with a length of 11 mm turned up yesterday and I figured it would be a good specimen to try to use for an identification. I say tooth-like because of the shiny black enamel-like surface covering 3/4 of the item. The shape of these items is pretty consistent with the "topside" being shiny, convex and mostly smooth except for apparent "growth rings" and the "underside" of the item showing more texture on the enameled surface and a concavity on the non-black end. Is this oddity at all familiar? It seems like I should be able to get a grasp on this but I'm sure I'm misidentifying something like a scale or dermal element as a tooth. I'm certain that it will be blindingly obvious in retrospect but I'm hopelessly fogged at the moment. Cheers. -Ken 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Nice. This, I'm pretty sure you're right, is the flat grinding tooth, part of a tooth plate of some sort of fish, shark or ray. I don't know your area well enough to say what sort but I have seen many similar specimens. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 A number of unusual species beyond Cookiecutter Shark (Isistius triangulus) teeth have come from that unassuming little creek. It would be nice to be able to get a lead on what this item is. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted October 17, 2019 Author Share Posted October 17, 2019 On 10/10/2019 at 10:34 AM, digit said: It would be nice to be able to get a lead on what this item is. I got my answer. I made contact with a Research Assistant at the FLMNH who knows her osteichthyan (bony fish) teeth. I showed her the images above and without delay she replied back with an answer. I've always said it is best to know just a little about a lot of things and know experts in many fields--this maxim has paid off again. It turns out this little fish tooth looks so odd because it comes from a fish in the family Balistidae (Triggerfishes). This family has very odd derived dentition specially suited to their diet of invertebrates. She pointed me to an interesting paper that happened to have a figure of some Miocene specimens from Cuba. The specimen pictured in Fig. 4 (E-H) is a pretty good match for my tooth above. The teeth seem to attach to the front of the bone in the jaw which accounts for the odd fully enameled surface on one side and partial enameling on the other with the concave attachment point. It's so nice when you find someone who is very familiar with items that are a complete mystery to you. It's a great AHA! moment when you see your mystery solved and you can actually feel the little nugget of learning implant itself deep within your brain. With any luck it will lodge there and I'll be able to recall it in the future. Anybody who is interested in reading the paper can find it here: Lazaro W. Viñola Lopez, Richard Carr & Logel Lorenzo (2019): First occurrence of fossil Balistes (Tetradontiformes: Balistidae) from the Miocene of Cuba with the description of a new species and a revision of fossil Balistes, Historical Biology, DOI:10.1080/08912963.2019.1580278 https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2019.1580278 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331354850 Cheers. -Ken 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old bones Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 This is great, Ken! I have a lot of these teeth, and have long wondered what fish they are from. I went back and looked in my collection and found that most of them are from Rattlesnake Creek, Fl. Now I know what to label them . Thanks for the links too. Julianna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted October 19, 2019 Author Share Posted October 19, 2019 Yup. That's them. A complete mystery when you are not clued in and a wonderful sense of enlightenment when the mystery is lain bare. My fossil knowledge has always been incremental. Instead of gaining an encyclopedic knowledge of a wide variety of fossil types, my knowledge (meager as it is) grows organically based on the items (and usually mysteries that turn into learning opportunities). I enjoy (and appreciate) days when I know more when I go to sleep than I did when I woke. Glad I could share this knowledge to other folks who delve into the black magic arts of picking micro-matrix. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 hmmm....another new something to learn about. Interesting find! congrats! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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