Never seen another like this

[Whitneyfossil]

Please help me identify this. I found it in my yard while digging up my garden. I'm located in central Texas. Thanks

[Al Dente]

It looks like an impression of a shark centrum (center part of the vertebra) with some of the centrum still attached or maybe some sediment from inside the centrum remaining.

[Whitneyfossil]

Have you ever seen one like it

[Ludwigia]

2 hours ago, Whitneyfossil said:

Have you ever seen one like it

 

Just google shark vertebra fossil

[Whitneyfossil]

Yeah I did, but I didn't see anything close to this at all. Thanks for the opinion though..

[JohnJ]

@Whitneyfossil

Using this map, in what geologic formation did you find it?

[Whitneyfossil]

Right in between these two.

 

 

[JohnJ]

The bedrock is the Lower Cretaceous, (Albian) Washita Group:  Denton, Ft. Worth, or Duck Creek Formation.  

 

What size is your find?  

 

You might find this discovery by @LanceH to be useful.

[Whitneyfossil]

Here are some more pics

[JohnJ]

I think @Al Dente has it right.  It also looks similar to Lance's in the link above.  You might also want to read THIS.

 

 

[Lone Hunter]

Not sure what you've never seen before but maybe this will help, this is a centrum, if it were buried in sediment, hardened then separated,  much like a candy mold the result is what you have. I made a crude quick impression to show you.

[Whitneyfossil]

I don't believe the top part is sediment, look closely, the longer tines actually look like enamel in the center. I can only tell by the one that's broken. I just don't see sediment in such an organized pattern. Either way I think this is a rare and good find, can we agree on that maybe?

[Lone Hunter]

So a centrum wouldn't have enamel,  and if it's sediment it's just copy of the centrum basically, it did not organize like that on its own.  Yes it's a good find, better if it's the actual centrum but I can't tell for sure, but not rare.

[Rockwood]

Shark vertebrae are composed of ossified cartilage. It was likely a race between it and the sediment to see which was preserved to a greater degree. 

[Ludwigia]

9 hours ago, Whitneyfossil said:

Yeah I did, but I didn't see anything close to this at all. Thanks for the opinion though..

I think you need to look a bit closer then. It's obvious to me at any rate. It looks to me that this is an impression and the actual fossil above it is mostly eroded away, so to be quite honest, if that's the case, I don't see anything special about it, but I'd call it a keeper at any rate....but that's just my personal opinion.

[JohnJ]

8 hours ago, Whitneyfossil said:

I don't believe the top part is sediment, look closely, the longer tines actually look like enamel in the center. I can only tell by the one that's broken. I just don't see sediment in such an organized pattern. Either way I think this is a rare and good find, can we agree on that maybe?

 

I'm not sure what you think it is, but you can be assured it is not a tooth of any kind.  As previously mentioned, it is the mold and partial remnants of a large shark vertebra centrum.  It is an uncommon find in those formations at that size.

[LanceH]

Absolutely it's a partial cast of a shark centrum.

I actually just posted some old footage on Youtube for one I found in 2014:
 

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by LanceH

[Whitneyfossil]

Cool  great footage. Did any one ever put a value on that?

[JohnJ]

7 minutes ago, Whitneyfossil said:

Did any one ever put a value on that?

We don't allow valuations discussed on the Forum.