Fossilized Tissue Or Mineral Formation?

[TitanTom]

This is my first post, so bear with me. I was recommended to come here by members of the Coin Community Forum.

What do you make of it? Underneath the bumpy surface are a whole bunch of hollow, vertical tubes, which I tried to show in Picture 3 and the pictures under the magnifier. You can get a sense of scale from my fingers. The IB and AP biology teachers at my school say is is likely some sort of fossilized tissue. What thinketh thou?

I found it in a fossil shop near Mammoth Cave. This specimen was in a pile of so-called dinosaur bone shards of unspecified origin, maybe the Americas but likely Africa. I was sifting through this pile and found this. (Sorry that this will probably inhibit a precise ID)

I bought this when I was very into collecting fossils several years ago. I recently pulled it out and decided to find out for sure what it is. So far, everyone I've shown it to has been at a complete loss as to what it is.

[TitanTom]

My pictures seem to have gotten compressed. If anyone needs bigger, sharper pictures, let me know and I'll post them.

[Auspex]

There are features that remind me of ossified cartilage, mixed with some that don't.

I hope someone here can ID it, 'cause I'd like to know!

[Carl]

To me it most looks like a pharyngeal tooth plate of some kind of bony fish. Paralbula, Phyllodus, Semicossyphus, and Eodiaphyodus are genera to compare this to.

[abyssunder]

I think it could be Sturgeon mouth plate,or maybe drum fish mouth plate.

It looks similar to the specimen of this thread: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/32755-mystery-from-glen-rose-texas/

Edited May 18, 2015 by abyssunder

[TitanTom]

Here is a sturgeon mouth plate and a bony fish pharyngeal tooth plate. I think we may have an ID!

[Diceros]

I agree with Carl that it's a bony fish phyllodont toothplate (probably the upper one), but disagree that it's a phyllodontid like Paralbula, Phyllodus, or Eodiaphyodus. Also, it's likely from the oral cavity, not the pharyngeal cavity in the back of the throat. If you look closely at the occlusal surface (your photo in the upper left), you can see that the rootless tooth crowns are stacked one on top of the other. That doesn't happen in bonefish (albulid) toothplates, those teeth (and drum fish toothplate teeth, like Pogonias cromis) have roots (the ones in TitanTom's pics are also not sturgeon or bonefish - they're also phyllodont). I'm not sure sturgeons (like Acipenser) have teeth.

The interesting thing is the thickness, and tubules on the side, of your toothplate. I thought at first that something had grown on the toothplate, but in the close-up of the other side, the pattern is clearly bony fish bone. Unfortunately, lots of modern bony fishes have phyllodont teeth like the extinct phyllodontids. My guess would be a wrasse (labrid) of some kind. It's one I'm not familiar with. I'd say probably a marine, and not a freshwater, or cave fish (it was a long way from home).

[izak_]

Welcome to TFF! I doubt it, but I think it looks like 'placoderm bone plating'. I can't tell.

Cool specimen!

Izak

[Calvert Cliff Dweller]

On 5/18/2015 at 2:30 PM, TitanTom said:

Here is a sturgeon mouth plate and a bony fish pharyngeal tooth plate. I think we may have an ID!

 

[Calvert Cliff Dweller]

1 minute ago, Calvert Cliff Dweller said:

 

I think I found what I was looking for.

[TitanTom]

I can’t believe I never thanked the people here for helping me. I guess better late than never. Thanks all!