Lebanon Coccodus Fish has apparent upper and lower Dentition

[Biotalker]

At last week's NJ fossil show, I purchased one fossil, a cretaceous fish with an unusual feature. It is a Coccodus from Lebanon, its length is 6.5 inch (16cm) and dates to 95mya. Coccodus is a pycnodont, an extinct group of fish which lived from the late Triassic to the late Eocene. A pycnodont primary characteristic is molariform teeth, rounded and blunt, suitable for crushing shellfish amongst other prey. This specimen appears to be split with the dorsal surface exposed. What caught my eye is that most of the dentition appears intact, with a bones forming a maxilla and “palate” vault-like structure rising above the plane of the specimen. It would be remarkable to reveal both upper and lower dentition within (course I’d probably ruin the fossil). Note the bizarre shapes of the teeth that are exposed.

[Biotalker]

Here are three stock photos of split coccodus fossils that while terrific specimens, appear to have just one set of teeth.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Interesting. 

Though that last photo seems to show a specimen with several sets of teeth? 

[Biotalker]

 

2 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Though that last photo seems to show a specimen with several sets of teeth? 

If I interpret it correctly, the bottom pic would be a more or less complete lower jaw or dentary. The other two are missing teeth here and there. 

[Biotalker]

Here is a stock pic of a coccodus fossilized on its side. Here you can see it has an unusually high head with the teeth below. Most coccodus fossils I see are like the first 3 stock pics, with their bony lateral spines lying in a plane with the sediment ie dorso-ventral, as opposed to most fossil fish that lie on one side in the sediment. So the specimen I acquired in the first panel has more of that dorsal mouth region preserved and therefore more............................teeth!