Opinion

[Foshunter]

I was going through some of my storage boxes containing large partial Mosasaur material. I noticed a bone which was believed to be Mos. but was actually an unknown large fish piece. The piece has a large attack wound on it and what appears to be a deterated tooth embedded in it. Need you guys to give me your thoughts on this piece. Thanks for looking----Tom

[Auspex]

Fascinating!

That had to hurt...

[Troodon]

Interesting bone. If that's a tooth looks pretty big, what is its length?

[ZiggieCie]

Sometimes fossil hunting through our own stash to find real treasures pays off.

[Foshunter]

Interesting bone. If that's a tooth looks pretty big, what is its length?

What is remaining is 1 1/2 inches but looks like more was missing on the root end but just a guess at this point----Tom

[Troodon]

Your holding it, any idea what marine animal could have that size and shape tooth. I'm not there yet.

[Foshunter]

If it is ID'd as a tooth frag. which I think everything points to that, a possible preditor could be a large Xiphactinus audax. Below is a few teeth from this guy----Tom

[JohnJ]

Tom, is it possible that it's a piece of a small rib that was pressed up against the other bone?

[Rockwood]

Look closely at the upper left corner of the first photo. The bone structure in that circular shape seems to indicate that these are original features.

[Foshunter]

I believe that trying to ID something that could be either natural to the piece or a foreign object all things are possible. There isn't any doubt that something which looks to be roundish penetrated the bone and did a lot of damage upon entry. Is it a piece of rib or other bone structure natural to the fish, frankly I don't know, that is why I asked the experts, maybe I will never know but it is interesting for nothing else but the bite damage----Tom

[Troodon]

Tom not an easy one, why you came here. I still having a difficult time seeing a tooth but.?? I'm not sure another fish like Xiphactinus would have left that shape. Any evidence of an enamel material around that structure. That top left photo does show something penetrated the bone and at least to me.

[Xiphactinus]

It's definitely fish bone. Looks like a piece of mandible or maxillary. The only damage I've seen like that came from Cretoxyrhina sharks. They can slice right through mosasaur bone.

[Ptychodus04]

The "tooth" does appear to have a similar fragmenting pattern to other fish teeth that I have seen broken in the past. It's

[Foshunter]

It's definitely fish bone. Looks like a piece of mandible or maxillary. The only damage I've seen like that came from Cretoxyrhina sharks. They can slice right through mosasaur bone.

Thanks for the input, there are several folks on the Forum that would have some insight into Cretaceous species. Thanks for the ID that the bone frag. is from the head region, I had suspected that. C. mantelli is a good choice for the aggressor and possible others that may remain unknown. Question???? Do you think that the object is tooth or just detatched bone material from the bite. I find bite damage very interesting not only finding out who is the receiver but who did it. I have a portion of a Gigus turtle that a Mos. autographed with his teeth in my gallery, so neat----Tom

[Foshunter]

The "tooth" does appear to have a similar fragmenting pattern to other fish teeth that I have seen broken in the past. It's

Kris, Looks like you got cut off at the start of a sentence with only an It's, with your knowledge I am sure more was to come----Tom

[Xiphactinus]

Thanks for the input, there are several folks on the Forum that would have some insight into Cretaceous species. Thanks for the ID that the bone frag. is from the head region, I had suspected that. C. mantelli is a good choice for the aggressor and possible others that may remain unknown. Question???? Do you think that the object is tooth or just detatched bone material from the bite. I find bite damage very interesting not only finding out who is the receiver but who did it. I have a portion of a Gigus turtle that a Mos. autographed with his teeth in my gallery, so neat----Tom

It's kind of hard to tell from the photo. Wish I could hold in my hand...If that is a piece of tooth, it is not from the "biter" but rather the "bitee". As Ptychodus04 was alluding to, if a jaw is split just right and the tooth splits too, it is often filled with calcite crystals. This could just be a broken piece of jaw with the tooth root exposed.