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I’m starting to work on the Carcharhinus and related shark displays. I’ve got three teeth from the Pisco Formation, Sacaco location that I can’t quite nail down as far as ID. I know they could end up being Carcharhinus sp but I thought I’d give an ID post a chance. I’m not really confident in my ability to ID the gray sharks. The first two look like they might be C. obscurus to me but I know there would be other possibilities. They are both right around 13mm on the slant so not very large. The first one is in better shape, the second is pretty worn. The third tooth is actually a really cool looking tooth. It’s about 10mm on the slant and 14mm wide. This one has me pretty stumped. Could be a C. brachyurus but none of the teeth in my collection match it enough for me to be sure.
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From the album: Pleistocene
Carcharhinus melanopterus, Oahu Stage 4, Pleistocene May, 2023 Blacktip Reef Sharks are the most common Carcharhinus species present today and live amongst reefs, so I think it is a safe ID.- 1 comment
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A couple days ago I embarked on an adventure to a site I was never expecting to visit. The setting was a family vacation to the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Oahu and I initially had no intention of crawling around in gravel bars as I so often do at home. Nevertheless one thing led to another and I ended up going on a hunt that was perhaps the most unforgettable outing of my fossil career and I came away with some amazing specimens impossible to find anywhere else. Maui Our trip started on the lesser populated island of Maui which is a bit younger than its sibling Oahu. The landmass can be described as a valley where two large volcanoes form the east and west edges. The Hawaiian islands get older as you travel westward and this trend is true for Maui. The western half of the island is about 1.3 million years old whereas the eastern is only about 0.75 million. To my knowledge, there isn't any fossil bearing strata on the shores, but that doesn't mean a fossil hunter will be left with nothing to do on their visit. Snorkeling was my main activity throughout the trip. Of course there are tons of interesting sea creatures to admire on the visit, but I think my recent fossil interests have given me an extra sense of appreciation for the ocean life. I don't have any underwater equipment, so there's sadly no photos from beneath the waves, but I captured some neat stuff from out of the water. Horn-eyed Ghost Crab catching a wave (Ocypode ceratophthalmus) Little green crab washed out of the water Had no idea what this was at first (between starfish or urchin). Turned out to be a helmet urchin which is adapted for attaching strongly to rocky surfaces. Colobocentrotus atratus I was surprised to find that the beach sand contained millions of tiny urchin spines mostly from the rock boring urchins living just beneath the waves. I didn't take any home, but occasionally a large red spine from a pencil slate urchin would wash up as well. Rock boring urchin spines Most of the beaches on Maui weren't all that great for combing. It wasn't until I took a closer look in the waters that I finally came across a spot with gravelly deposits. As I snorkeled it was impossible to keep my eyes away from them and I kept hallucinating various fossils showing up. Eventually, one hallucination actually proved to be the real deal, so I held my breath and dove down a few meters to retrieve what I had spotted. Echinometra mathaei While technically not a fossil, these recently-deceased oblong urchins were too cool to leave alone. They belong to the species Echinometra mathaei which is the most common urchin in Hawaii. When it comes to fossils, understanding the original animal's behavior is a difficult task. In this instance, it's actually very easy as the living counterparts are literally all over the place. They are a burrowing urchin that use their spines and teeth to carve out rocky holes for hiding during the day. At night they leave to graze on algae. Makes me wonder what sort of neat behaviors are hidden amongst our local Cretaceous urchins here in Texas . Besides urchins, I also came across some beautiful Hawaiian Snakehead Cowries (Monetaria caputophidii) as well as one Granulated Cowry (Nucleolaria granulata). Both of which are endemic to Hawaii. Monetaria caputophidii Nucleolaria granulata That about sums up the Maui finds. This pushed me to do a little research on fossils in Hawaii and I was surprised to find on FF that Oahu was actually known to possess some Pleistocene reef. @hemipristis has a lot of great stuff on the island! I saw him mention finding teeth on one of Oahu's coasts in the Waimanalo Fm. I did a little satellite searching on that particular coast and found 3 potential spots to later check out. Oahu For those interested in the geology, the Waimanalo Formation is Pleistocene-aged limestone resting atop basalt at various points around the island. While the island is 3-4 million years in age, the Waimanalo Formation is only about 130 thousand. This age is significant because it aligns with the latest interglacial period known as the Eemian or Sangamonian Stage. Despite being nestled within glacial periods, this point in time was actually quite warm and sea levels were accordingly raised. The ocean was about 8 meters higher compared to today. It's fascinating to observe fossils from such a unique time period. Of the three potential sites, I was only able to find access to two. Of the two, one site was a bust and had no sign of the Waimanalo being completely volcanic. Thankfully, I found one amazing site. I made a brief initial visit where I hunted mostly the exposure itself. The finds were only invertebrate in nature consisting of gastropods, bivalves, and crab claws. These were cool, but they didn't meet my highest goal of finding a Hawaiian shark tooth. My family was waiting on me, so I didn't get the chance to browse the gravel talus underneath. On the last day of the trip, after some begging and various concessions, I was granted just one hour to hunt which I gladly took. I sprinted out to the site so as to not waste any time. It was hot and humid. The black lava rocks absorbed a lot of the heat and were uncomfortable to navigate, but that didn't dissuade me. In all the gravel there had to be at least one shark tooth. The first vertebrate find turned out to be bony fish. I've never found one of these before, but I've seen similar stuff across the web from around the world. These are usually referred to as pufferfish mouth plates, but they are actually from the family Diodontidae or porcupinefish/burrfish. This particular specimen was burnt orange and possessed partial jaw elements as well as fossilized worms tubes on its surface. I was leaping up and down! After reading more on the topic, it seems that this belongs to the genus Chilomycterus and perhaps the species C. reticularus commonly known as the Spotfin Burrfish (the only Chilomycterus species found in Hawaii today). Chilomycterus reticulatus jaw fragment Not too long after I found a couple more mouth plates, but this time not from a burrfish. Whereas burrfish (Chilomycterus) only have about 1-4 sheets exposed on their crushing dentition, porcupinefish (Diodon) have much more at 10-18 according to a conversation I found on ResearchGate. In Hawaii, the genus Diodon is represented by two species: the larger D. hystrix and smaller D. halocanthus. It's difficult for me to make a distinction between the two species, so I'll just have to stick with Diodon sp. for now. The first porcupinefish specimen was only a large broken half. The second specimen, however, is quite a beauty and one of my favorite fossils of all time! Diodon sp. in original matrix with volcanic inclusions This piece is about as Hawaiian as a fossil can get. The ancient reef bed the mouth plate is preserved in also features numerous small volcanic inclusions. After some time collecting the gastropods not already picked up from the prior visit, I stumbled upon what I had been dreaming of the entirety of my visit. Sitting plainly atop the rubble was a tan shark tooth in nice condition. I tried to milk the moment a little, picking it up slowly and soaking in every second. I was at a total loss for words and more or less silently slipped it into my pouch. It is likely from the species Carcharhinus melanopterus also known as the Blacktip Reef Shark and the most common shark in Hawaii today. I suppose there are many other Carcharhinus species present in the area, but I think Blacktip is the most likely. Before this tooth, my youngest shark was from the Eocene strata at the Whiskey Bridge. This was quite the temporal extension to my collection . Carcharhinus melanopterus At the very end of the hunt, I picked up a fragment of a shark tooth with fine serrations. I think it is likely also Carcharhinus melanopterus, but it's hard to say. Its size is very small. Carcharhinus melanopterus? So that about wraps up this unforgettable hunt! It's crazy to think that the second state I'd ever find a fossil on wasn't some place like Oklahoma. It's a surreal feeling to look at these various finds and imagine their lives 5 timezones away and 130 thousand years into the past. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this post almost as much as I enjoyed writing it! Here's the overview of the rest of the finds from Oahu: The species are based off of what I can find from modern Hawaiian waters Various crab bits Tellinella crucigera Quidnipagus palatam Unknown bivalve Ctena bella Unknown Monoplex nicobaricus? Cypraea sp. Nerita picea Peristernia sp.? Conus aff. spiceri Canarium sp.? Canarium sp.? Littoraria sp. Amplustrum amplustre? (Look up "Bubble snail") Morula lepida Ceritherium sp. Drupa aperta Cellana sp. Unknown Thanks for reading! Monachus schauinslandi
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From the album: Sharks
This species of shark is commonly seen in aquariums - you can recognize it by its proportionately large dorsal fin.-
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From the album: Galveston Fossils
Found 3 teeth this weekend trip. Galveston shark teeth are very hard to find (for me). These were all found on the main island (not Bolivar). The top two I believe are the sandbar shark (C. plumbeus) and the lower one is a tiger shark (G. cuvier).-
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From the album: Sharks
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From the album: Sharks
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From the album: Sharks
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From the album: Sharks
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From the album: Lee Creek
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From the album: Lee Creek
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From the album: Lee Creek
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From the album: Sharks
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Just acquired a small shark tooth, but not sure about the species. Need some help with identifying this one. It is serrated but not so obvious. I think it might be hammerhead, lemon shark, or carcharhinus sp?
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I received some matrix from @sixgill pete a while back in a TFF auction and picked most of it a while back and ID'd the bulk of the teeth and other material. Lately I have been going back through some of my sharks teeth and looking more closely at items I was unsure of These three teeth are one such group out of this matrix. I have read Purdy et, al (2001) a bunch of times, looked at elasmo.com for hours on end, read dozens of threads on here and am still a bit confused/uncertain. So, I figured why no just ask and get several more opinions, I always appreciate what folks here have to offer. The teeth are shown in the pictures below and it is mostly the big (relatively speaking) one (#1) I am most interested in. The two smaller ones (#2 and #3) are fairly similar looking although #3 is much more worn, and are likely small symphysial teeth from ???. Tooth #1 is 7.4mm tall and about the same width. My first guess (wish?) was a Megachasma even though I know these are extremely rare out of the Lee Creek material. It sits very flat on it's broad base and the crown is slightly curved lingually, but not as much as many depictions of this genus. There are no serrations on the crown, but it is somewhat worn and the tip is missing, so that could factor in. I have looked at all the various posts on here of possible Megachasma's, most of which are probably not (more likely symphsials of any number of sharks) and looked at Don's Megachasma that Dr. Shimada confirmed and still was not 100% convinced one way of the other. This tooth does not look dissimilar to what is in Purdy or the description written there. Some of those crowns are not very "bent" either, nor is the specimen that Don posted very curved as far as I can tell. But then I see many posts by @MarcoSr and @Al Dente and others that show symphesial teeth from Hexanchus, Carcharhinus, Hemipristis and Galeocerdo that all bear similarities. So, I ask what you think and appreciate any and all insights that can be offered. And here are some close ups of the crowns on each of the teeth just in case that adds anything useful.
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From the album: Gainesville Florida Microscopic Miocene
Sharks of the genus Carcharhinus are the most common find in the stream gravel. Due to tremendous variability within the genus, it is difficult to assign a species to these teeth, but these are unique enough to feel somewhat confident is the C. signatus designation.-
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From the album: Pisces
Slant length 18mm. Miocene Burdigalian. Meco Beach, Sesimbra, Lisbon Region, Portugal. Thanks to Vieira for the trade.- 1 comment
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The weather was great today, so I hopped on the bike and headed off to check out a new museum in the area which was supposed to have opened up on April 1st, but I guess it must have been an April Fool's joke because it was closed. Well, actually we got locked down on Monday, so they weren't allowed to open the doors. I was just hoping, and anyway it was a nice day for a ride. It's a small branch of the well-known and much larger Hauff Museum in Holzmaden, so one of these days soon (hopefully), I'll drop in again to have a look around and talk shop with the proprietors. After I'd studied the closed doors and walked around the quaint old building a couple of times, I suddenely remembered that there was a shark tooth site not too far away which I hadn't visited for a dog's age, mainly because it wasn't nearly as productive as my site back near home. But, what the heck. Nothin' better to do and plenty of time on my hands. It wasn't as bad as I had expected, although the exposure has no obvious horizons, so you just have to scratch away hoping for good luck. Here's what I ended up with after a couple of hours. First, a mix of Carcharias, Mitsukurina and Carcharhinus. But the best one was this 2cm. Carcharias on matrix. Maybe I'll go back there again sometime.
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I've been going through my shark tooth collection recently trying to refine my ids. This one here has me somewhat stumped. I had identified it as Carcharhinus priscus, but I'm not at all sure any more and am now starting to wonder if it may be a chub or great white. The first photo, which I think is the labial view, seems to fit, but what I believe to be the lingual view (2nd photo) has me confused. The tooth is from the southern German Miocene Burdigalian. Slant length 15mm. Any advice here would be appreciated.
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South Florida Beach Find. Pretty sure it's genus Carcharhinus. Elongate, curved blade, singular notch and root configuration has me thinking C. altimus (bignose shark). C. acronotus was also similar, but that species tends to be small (<5 ft), apparently. The tooth is 13-14mm in vertical height, which seems a bit large for a 5-foot Carcharhinid. Thoughts?
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I am fairly comfortable with the STH micros as far as identification goes but I found a few things that I need some help with. First up is one that I am 90% sure on the ID but I want to be sure. I believe I found a couple of Raja teeth. The first one I found looks to be complete and tiny, a little over 1mm. I know skate teeth are somewhat uncommon in this fauna and this would be my first one.
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From the album: Pisces
Slant length 9mm. Upper lateral Burdigalian, Miocene Obere Meeresmolasse Formation From the NW Lake of Constance area.-
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From the album: Pisces
Root length 1cm. Lower lateral Burdigalian, Miocene Obere Meeresmolasse Formation From the NW Lake of Constance area.-
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From the album: Pisces
15mm. Burdigalian Miocene OMM Formation Found near the Lake of Constance-
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