Fenguin1999 Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 (edited) Hi everyone! So About a month ago I found this partial fish skull at Charmouth, U.K. which has been identified for me as Caturus sp. I was hoping that I could maybe get some help on what parts of the skull I have here? I can identify the branchiostegal rays but that is about as much as I can do - as I’m very much an amateur who wants to learn more. Please forgive me if my guesses are wrong - any help at all would be greatly appreciated! I’m pretty sure these (A) are the branchiostegal rays? The cross section visible below of the next bone up from the rays (B) makes me guess it’s possibly the dentary? Which I guess would make (C) Maxilla? The top from the first photo. Edited April 25 by Fenguin1999 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 Branchiostegal rays sounds right to me. But I think the rest is the back half of the skull. 5 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenguin1999 Posted April 25 Author Share Posted April 25 2 hours ago, Fossildude19 said: Branchiostegal rays sounds right to me. But I think the rest is the back half of the skull. Thanks for the very helpful reply! I didn’t realise the skull was facing the same way to this diagram. I’m just slightly confused about the oval cross section on this side if it’s the suboperculum? Again please forgive me if this is not relevant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 might be more a Pachycormid, but hard to identify without frontal skull or teeth... nevertheless, nice find, not common Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 1 hour ago, Fenguin1999 said: Thanks for the very helpful reply! I didn’t realise the skull was facing the same way to this diagram. I’m just slightly confused about the oval cross section on this side if it’s the suboperculum? Again please forgive me if this is not relevant Not quite sure what you are referring to ? Can you mark what you are looking at? I'd also like to see better pictures of the item. All sides - right, left, front, back, top, bottom. Looking straight down on the item from directly above. These obtuse angles are not conducive to figuring out what is going on. 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenguin1999 Posted April 26 Author Share Posted April 26 On 4/25/2024 at 6:28 PM, Fossildude19 said: Not quite sure what you are referring to ? Can you mark what you are looking at? I'd also like to see better pictures of the item. All sides - right, left, front, back, top, bottom. Looking straight down on the item from directly above. These obtuse angles are not conducive to figuring out what is going on. Hopefully these photos are better! Front Left face of first picture Right side of first picture top of first picture bottom of first picture back The oval cross section I was talking about was this, which can also be seen in the right side picture above. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Thanks for the additional pictures. Much better. I thought that might be the item you were talking about. Wasn't sure, though. Thanks for pointing it out. I think it is some sort of disarticulated bone, ... maybe a vertebra? Or it could be a socket of the pectoral girdle. This block is semi-articulated, but there could be disarticulated bones within it. Hard to say much more without some preparation to remove some matrix. 1 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivaldir Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Wow, I don't know anything about these kind of fossils but I'd never have recognized something in it if I came across it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenguin1999 Posted April 26 Author Share Posted April 26 2 hours ago, Fossildude19 said: Thanks for the additional pictures. Much better. I thought that might be the item you were talking about. Wasn't sure, though. Thanks for pointing it out. I think it is some sort of disarticulated bone, ... maybe a vertebra? Or it could be a socket of the pectoral girdle. This block is semi-articulated, but there could be disarticulated bones within it. Hard to say much more without some preparation to remove some matrix. Amazing thank you again for the detailed explanation! Very pleased that the suboperculum and operculum could be identified. I didn’t really realised how interesting that left hand side is too until taking the photo - lots of interesting shapes where the bones have been broken. Hopefully next time I can find a more complete fish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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