Rappahannock creek and beach

[Rowboater]

Continuing the quest to find more weird cow shark teeth that started a few years ago, unlike any I had found in the past.  A few cow shark teeth were from the beach along with skate teeth, a huge skate scute/ dermal piece, and a partial stinger (some fossil bone and beach glass as well).  The usual sand tiger and one or two smallish mako bottom teeth(?)

 

My quest for cow shark bottom laterals which do not have the "typical" serrations on the first point is taking forever.  I found a lot of cow shark teeth in the last few weeks, but the vast majority have the "typical" serrations.  The most interesting one seems to be an upper tooth with three small extra points (possibly a broken bottom lateral, but heavy root and twisted point suggest top tooth).  There are always a few that are not definitive, that may support an unserrated first point with separate small points, but weathering and breaks frustrate my efforts.  While I was looking to the extant sharp-nosed cow shark as evolving from my weird teeth (which I have only found at one spot), I have been looking at extinct Notidanodon teeth on-line and wonder if that might be a better fit?  Most specimens seem to be from the Cretaceous pre-dating my stuff, mostly from the Miocene.

 

 

 

 

[Fossildude19]

Oooh. Nice Cow shark teeth!

[Balance]

Downright beautiful 

[Bjohn170]

Killer cow shark teeth as always!

[hemipristis]

Sheesh, ya found a whole herd of cows!

Edited December 2, 2023 by hemipristis

[sixgill pete]

Love the sevengill cowshark teeth!

[Darktooth]

For many sharktooth collectors, cowsharks are truly special. You have done very well in collecting these. You should be very happy with all that you found even if they're not the special ones you are after. 

[bthemoose]

Would love to see a photo of all the cow shark teeth you’ve found at this spot over time—based on the quantity you find per trip, you may need multiple photos of course!

[Rowboater]

@bthemoose I have over 150 bottom laterals, but only a dozen uppers, and only have found three symphysial teeth (none from the :"new" site, surprisingly).  My interest has come from the new site, which I have hunted hard over the last two years, and which yielded a much higher percentage of unbroken cow shark teeth, as well as the ones that look 'different' from my older finds (possibly biased by many single first points which I classified as cow shark teeth by their serrations in the past).

 

I'll try to get them together, take some photos of the different types and post here in the next few days.  I am aware of the gender differences and possible weathering and 'pathological' teeth posted on-line.  My interest has come from cow shark teeth different at the new site that what I had seen over the years from other hunting sites.  My guess is that there are more extinct species/ subspecies of cow shark than what is known.  There is more variety at the new site than I have collected over the years.  They are my favorite shark teeth, maybe I'm reading too much into the minor differences between sites?  But I don't think so.

 

Like most amateurs collecting, I just chucked the different kinds of shark teeth in different jars rather than keeping sites in different receptacles.

[Rowboater]

Here are a number of broken cow shark teeth serrated initial points, mostly from old sites.  Clearly if broken between the first point and offset serrations or extra small points, I would have misclassified them.

 

[Rowboater]

Here are a number of 'standard' lower lateral cowshark teeth.  Some have fine, barely visible serrations, some have more coarse serrations on the first point.  Some of the coarse serrations may be fused into a 'fan', possibly intermediate to the weird ones I have found.

 

[automech]

Nice collection, Sir!

[Rowboater]

Here are more of the fused serrations, still mostly connected to the first point.  There is a lot of gradation and admittedly most of my teeth are 'standard', ie, serrations on the first point although some appear to be moving off? (I have a vivid imagination!)

The horizontal one at the bottom has seven points and looks like one point is missing (six gill cow?)

 

The second photo shows some of the ones that I am chasing and have caught.  The upper left two teeth were the initial ones i found with small points rather than serrations.  Several others have serrations that are (almost) separated from the first point.  Some clearly are damaged, and some are probably upper teeth (although most of these show separated serrations/ points).  I have a number of broken teeth with multiple points (not shown) that could be from first points with no serrations (or could be second points).  Some are shown that were broken just before the first point, possibly the remains of a serration or point is an optical illusion?

 

I'll post my upper teeth soon, so if  a more knowledgeable person can shed any light on them that would be helpful.  I must miss most of them or some are mixed in with other teeth.  The multipointed bottom laterals are very obvious despite my bad eyes!  

 

[Rowboater]

Here are some of my upper cowshark teeth (may be a few misclassified).  Additionally I found a number of cow shark teeth I had missed, most are small and broken.  Very difficult in most cases to claim the "first" point is really the first, usually serrated, point.  At least the multipoints ID the teeth as cow bottom laterals, there are likely many unserrated first points in my collection that are difficult to assign as cow shark teeth.

[Rowboater]

@Darktooth, @automech, @Ludwigia, @bthemoose, @Masonk, @Mark Kmiecik, @Bjohn170, @Family Fun, @Fin Lover, @sixgill pete, @Balance, @masonboro37, @Fossildude19, @grandpa, @SawTooth, @traveltip1, @MarcoSr, @Danielb

Thanks everyone for sharing my collection of Cow Shark teeth!  While the sand tiger teeth are more plentiful here, there's nowhere near the obvious variety as with the cow shark.  Clearly I appreciate your insights and comments, and pointing out any unusual characteristics or anomalies of my teeth. While I have been digging and picking up teeth off and on for 30 years, it is only after retiring (as a toxicologist) that I have had the time to hunt and get into classification of teeth (ground was frozen and the water cold last few days, but I will chasing again soon).  I remember the collector with a huge cache of cow shark symphyseal teeth in Maryland and presumably scientists pored over his collections (he must have had thousands of "standard" cow shark teeth) and learned a lot about the cow shark fossil teeth.  Anyone know of helpful books or articles devoted to fossil cowshark teeth?

 

Thanks to thefossilforum I sent a bird bone fossil to the museum at Calvert Cliffs, and it was determined to be a gannet.  Evidently there were many, many species of gannet at one time.  Good chance there were many species or at least subspecies of Cow Sharks millions of years ago.  I've found nothing of the sharp-nosed cow shark teeth in the fossil record, must be there; probably need to hunt by scientific name?  Additionally there may be offshoots of Notidanodon lanceolatus which seemingly share features with some of my teeth.  Whether there are truly lots of uncharacterized Cow shark teeth species or just tremendous inherent variety in the better characterized species in this area, it is a fun and interesting hunt.