ynot Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 Hey again Folks, Here is another find from Shark Tooth hill California. scale is in millimeters. I am hoping that Somebody can get Me closer to the identity than Whale / Dolphin. Tony
jpc Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 (edited) Is there any reason to think it is tooth?... looks like a chunk o' bone to me. Edited February 19, 2015 by jpc
ynot Posted February 19, 2015 Author Posted February 19, 2015 looks like sperm whale Thanks for the reply. Is there any reason to think it is tooth?... looks like a chunk o' bone to me. Look at the bottom as oriented in photo and there is a worn crown of enamel. Looks like a finger nail.
fossilized6s Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 Is there any reason to think it is tooth?... looks like a chunk o' bone to me. Check out the top of the object too JP. There looks to be a nerve cavity in the "root". Sorry i can't help with an ID. ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG
Auspex Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 ...Look at the bottom as oriented in photo and there is a worn crown of enamel. Looks like a finger nail. Is it so, or is it illusion, that the 'fingernail' lies not atop but underneath the 'bone'? "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!
Boesse Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 It is a sperm whale tooth; these are found pretty often. There's enormous variability in these teeth. This is one of two "morphs" in STH, and appears to be the enamel-less variety (e.g. not "Scaldicetus"-grade teeth) that are probably referable to the physeterine whale Aulophyseter (one of the closest extinct species to extant Physeter). 1
ynot Posted February 20, 2015 Author Posted February 20, 2015 Is it so, or is it illusion, that the 'fingernail' lies not atop but underneath the 'bone'? ~.JPG The bone is wider than the enamel but the enamel is on the top, it is the angle that the photo was taken at that makes it look like that. It is a sperm whale tooth; these are found pretty often. There's enormous variability in these teeth. This is one of two "morphs" in STH, and appears to be the enamel-less variety (e.g. not "Scaldicetus"-grade teeth) that are probably referable to the physeterine whale Aulophyseter (one of the closest extinct species to extant Physeter). Thanks for the identification. It is nice to know. Tony
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