Oregon Jim Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Fossil fish scales found in 1976, near Irvine, California. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Really cool! Any idea what fish? And, welcome to the forum from Kansas. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raistlin Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Those are very nice looking. And welcome to the forums. RobertSoutheast, MO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregon Jim Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 I do not have a clue about what type of fish this came from. I actually thought I had found crabs... There is a restaurant called the Orange Hill Restaurant up on top of a hill, near Irvine Park. I parked my car in their lot one morning and took a short walk into the hills close by. The first fossil that caught my eye was a shark's tooth that was sticking out of the sandstone rocks. More searching led me to some small fish about an inch long, and then I saw something that just stopped me in my tracks; a large piece of bone in the rocks. I beat feet to the museum in Santa Ana and convinced the curator to have a look. He told me I had found what he believed to be a California grey whale between 15-20 million years old, and my impression was that he was not too impressed. I thought it was GREAT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raistlin Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 LOL he might not have been impressed but I sure am. Then again I practically drool over all the stuff others including you have posted. RobertSoutheast, MO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregon Jim Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 I just looked at this location using Google Earth, and I'd bet the whale bones are still right where I found them (Degrees, decimal minutes) 33 degrees, 47.394 min. N., 117 degrees, 47.091 min. W. The sandstone faces on that hillside (South slope of hill) was a treasure trove of small fish... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 That looks like the tip of a Carcharocles megalodon tooth. Yeah, museum guys in Orange County don't get too excited about pieces of whale because they have found so many. A construction project often turns up something like that. I do not have a clue about what type of fish this came from. I actually thought I had found crabs... There is a restaurant called the Orange Hill Restaurant up on top of a hill, near Irvine Park. I parked my car in their lot one morning and took a short walk into the hills close by. The first fossil that caught my eye was a shark's tooth that was sticking out of the sandstone rocks. More searching led me to some small fish about an inch long, and then I saw something that just stopped me in my tracks; a large piece of bone in the rocks. I beat feet to the museum in Santa Ana and convinced the curator to have a look. He told me I had found what he believed to be a California grey whale between 15-20 million years old, and my impression was that he was not too impressed. I thought it was GREAT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobWill Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Fossil fish scales? Didn't know there was a weight limit Welcome to the forum. Nice finds. Keep 'em comming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregon Jim Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 (edited) I appreciate your replies! I hope that some will be able to visit that area one of these days to give it another look. Perhaps the shark lost a tooth feeding on the carcass of the whale... Perhaps the spine and ribs were misidentified, and the scales came from that great fish... Maybe there is more to be discovered. I have wondered about it for nearly forty years! To be honest, I think the fish scales are the neatest thing I have ever found, as after millions of years the color and pattern of the scales remain. Edited April 6, 2012 by Oregon Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I have wondered about IDing fish scales too, as that is about all I ever find of fish in my area (only 2 teeth in a couple decades of looking). Scales have such distinctive patterning and diversity, you'd think it would enable a classification / diagnostic chart to be drawn up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-AnThOnY- Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Just as another reference to scales, this is the type I find in the area, Demopolis Chalk, Cretaceous, MS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Just as another reference to scales, this is the type I find in the area, Demopolis Chalk, Cretaceous, MS. Nice! I assume the symmetrical splitting was caused by flattening? "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micropterus101 Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 The scale on the left i find here in WA Too. fossil crabs website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-AnThOnY- Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Nice! I assume the symmetrical splitting was caused by flattening? Never really thought about it, this is the biggest one I have found to date and was the only one that I noticed them. After reading your post I looked at a couple other ones and they have it as well. That is definitely an interesting thought though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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