Too deep, too cold

[Shellseeker]

Due to the holidays, my last time out was 2 weeks ago. The nights have been cooler lately and we had some recent rains. Yesterday was sunny/overcast highs in low 70s F. 

I went out yesterday to a favorite location. Took a 5 mm wetsuit which was not quite enough to avoid occasional chills. The water was deeper so I could not quite reach the gravel and moved to a spot that had smaller gravel, more sand and shell. I recall thinking I might just try a sieve or 2 here and then move upstream prospecting. So much for that idea.  In the 1st sieve was a tridactyl horse lower tooth. I would hunt here for the next 6 hours.  I was finding fewer  fossils than normal at this site, but the quality was better. For example , instead of 250 small shark teeth, I found 50.  There were many broken bones and I kept a few that had potential for identification.

In searching for comparisons,  I found a @Plantguy thread where he was looking for IDs on horses, tapirs, and filefish.  @Harry Pristis help out on differentiating Tapirs..

https://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/76697-florida-vertebrate-unknown-questions/

I wonder if Chris ever IDed his tapir. 

A few closeups of what I believe are accurate IDs looking for comments.  

Early in my hunting days,  I found an almost complete 3.5 inch Ray barb... Any time I see one near 2 inches, it makes my day

 

An upper hemi around 2 inches, even broken is a welcomed find

 

One of the best filefish verts I have ever see, Look at the detailed lines on the inside of the centrum..

 

 

Nice tooth.. HSB traverse lines on the enamel.  I say peninsulatus based on the age of the location AND the long time ratio of peninsulatus versus any other Tridactly at this site. 

 

There are at least 6 species of tapir in the Florida fossil history,  I have found 2-3 of them at this location, but this ones looks a lot like Tapirus haysii,  much more than others .

 

That was the show and tell part of this thread...

Here is the request for ID.

I know that 1st photo looks like a conglomerate rock..  I almost tossed it,  then turned it over to see the 2nd photo and thought maybe Dolphin earbone, At 16 x 11 mm,  really small.  What do you think?

 

 

[Darktooth]

Hi Jack, It sure resembles an ear bone to me.

[Shellseeker]

10 minutes ago, Darktooth said:

Hi Jack, It sure resembles an ear bone to me.

Thanks, I think maybe also.  I went to @Boesse blog at

https://coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2023/01/bobbys-guide-to-whale-dolphin-earbones.html

and found this.. a dolphin periotic just within the range AND from the Pliocene of North Carolina!

[Danielb]

Great finds as always. I went to the peace river a few days ago and this title describes it perfectly.

Edited January 5 by Danielb

[Plantguy]

Hey Jack, always enjoy seeing what you are finding. 

 

I got nothing to offer on the Tapir...never did measure it and should have done so initially...my bad. tracking it down is problematic....Lol. 

 

The black specimen intrigues me the most of your recent haul. I do also think periotic because of the general shape and openings. Hoping Bobby can way in on it. 

It is surely small. I dont know! I want you to find more Kogia stuff--work on that for me!

 

He better not say its a piece of phosphate!!! I'll accept that but will be truly disappointed. 

 

Continued hunting success!

Regards, Chris 

[Shellseeker]

49 minutes ago, Plantguy said:

I got nothing to offer on the Tapir...never did measure it and should have done so initially...my bad. tracking it down is problematic....Lol. 

I agree Chris,  Can not believe how sloppy I was a decade ago,  Took the photo, did not add the size, and the actual is packed away with lots of other fossils... Lousy filing and retrieval system.

 

In the next page of his Blog,  Bobby notes " ,, Pontoporiidae is also found in Bone Valley Florida" 

 

[Boesse]

Hey all! I suspect that the black lumpy thing is not actually a dolphin periotic, but is instead possibly half or 1/3 of one of those horribly inflated diseased fish vertebrae we find so frequently on the southeast coast.

[Shellseeker]

1 hour ago, Boesse said:

Hey all! I suspect that the black lumpy thing is not actually a dolphin periotic, but is instead possibly half or 1/3 of one of those horribly inflated diseased fish vertebrae we find so frequently on the southeast coast.

I actually do find those every other trip to this site.... Make Sense, if broken in half.  

 

14 hours ago, Plantguy said:

 

....The black specimen intrigues me the most of your recent haul. I do also think periotic because of the general shape and openings. Hoping Bobby can way in on it. 

It is surely small. I dont know! I want you to find more Kogia stuff--work on that for me!

 

I find marine mammal material here ... It is only a matter of time, persistence , endurance...