Rare Saw Shark From Morocco

[mattbsharks]

Hi everyone, I was hoping to gain more info about this saw shark on matrix from morocco. It is from a very reliable moroccan exporter who picked it up from quarry workers himself. 100% natural. I had never even heard of the existence of fossils of these before this. I'd love to hear about the rarity of specimens like this and if people are aware of value of these a PM would be much appreciated. Thanks for looking. Not really sure what sub forum to put this into. The white long bone is the bill of the shark with 1000s of teeth around it.

[mattbsharks]

[mattbsharks]

[mattbsharks]

[mattbsharks]

[mattbsharks]

[doushantuo]

Onchopristis, Ischyrhiza, Schizorhiza, Squatina atavus ...(Libanopristis)

 

[Troodon]

Check out Schizorhiza stromeri.  The teeth are commonly available but if you have a mortality plate it's extremely rare. Your specimen looks very nice.  Let me add that rarity does not necessarily equate to price.  One off specimens don't carry a known market value it's whatever the seller wants and you are willing to pay.

 

[izak_]

Very nice fossil 

[Nimravis]

Very nice plate.

[Anomotodon]

This is an extremely amazing and unique specimen, congratulations!!! It is definitely Schizorhiza stromeri, an enigmatic Sclerorhynchid sawfish, you can read more here

[sixgill pete]

Fantastic piece.

[RJB]

A really neato piece!!!

 

RB

[siteseer]

22 hours ago, Anomotodon said:

This is an extremely amazing and unique specimen, congratulations!!! It is definitely Schizorhiza stromeri, an enigmatic Sclerorhynchid sawfish, you can read more here

 

Yes, that is an important point to make.  Schizorhiza is a sawfish - not a sawshark.  It belongs to the group of sawfishes that died out at the end of the Cretaceous.  The sawfishes we see alive today belong to a separate group that evolved in the Late Paleocene-Early Eocene.

 

Schizorhiza is an uncommon find even as a single rostral tooth - most often seen from Morocco but also from Niger.  A friend once sent me a small group of rostral teeth still locked together.  I've seen a couple of specimens with several teeth in a row but nothing like the one in this thread.  Something like that might reside in a museum or large private collection.  Even as rare and spectacular as it is, it might not get a big price because it's a sawfish - not a shark or dinosaur.  It would sell only to someone who already knows it's a Schizorhiza and how rare something like that is.

[Anomotodon]

42 minutes ago, siteseer said:

 

Yes, that is an important point to make.  Schizorhiza is a sawfish - not a sawshark.  It belongs to the group of sawfishes that died out at the end of the Cretaceous.  The sawfishes we see alive today belong to a separate group that evolved in the Late Paleocene-Early Eocene.

 

Schizorhiza is an uncommon find even as a single rostral tooth - most often seen from Morocco but also from Niger.  A friend once sent me a small group of rostral teeth still locked together.  I've seen a couple of specimens with several teeth in a row but nothing like the one in this thread.  Something like that might reside in a museum or large private collection.  Even as rare and spectacular as it is, it might not get a big price because it's a sawfish - not a shark or dinosaur.  It would sell only to someone who already knows it's a Schizorhiza and how rare something like that is.

 

Unfortunately, still don't have a Schizorhiza tooth  Although, I absolutely love Sclerorhynchid teeth.

By the way, I wonder why "saw" is such an efficient structure, that it appeared at least three times independently and twice they reached really large sizes? Firstly Pristiophorids (sawsharks), then Sclerorhynchids, then Pristids. And the tooth morphology is also different between these taxa - sawshark and sclerorhynchid teeth seem to be attached to the rostrum via their wide roots, while pristid teeth reside in deeper alveoli (more advanced?). However, in general it seems like a very specialized structure. Is swiping a saw into schools of fish or crustaceans several times and then attempting to pick it up really that much more efficient than just chasing and catching them?

 

[siteseer]

2 minutes ago, Anomotodon said:

 

Unfortunately, still don't have a Schizorhiza tooth  Although, I absolutely love Sclerorhynchid teeth.

By the way, I wonder why a "saw" is such an efficient structure, that it appeared at least three times independently and twice they reached really large sizes? Firstly Pristiophorids (sawsharks), then Sclerorhynchids, then Pristids. And the tooth morphology is also different between these taxa - sawshark and sclerorhynchid teeth seem to be attached to the rostrum via their wide roots, while pristid teeth reside in deeper alveoli. However it seems like a very specialized structure. Is swiping a saw into schools of fish or crustaceans several times and then attempting to pick it up really more efficient than just chasing and catching them?

 

 

One of the online dealers like Steve Alter should be able to get one for you especially since he buys and sells at Tucson.

 

Yes, I've wondered about that too - the same unusual weapon developing among three unrelated families and yet still among chondrichthyans.  Why didn't it develop among earlier groups?  I can only assume that it had to do with the radiation of bony fishes during the Mesozoic and again in the early Cenozoic.  Perhaps these were times when densely-schooling fishes became common.  It opened a niche for a predator that could change toward a way to stun/injure several fish in the shortest amount of time possible for easy capture rather than run them down one at a time which would be more of an energy expenditure per fish..  

 

[Anomotodon]

2 minutes ago, siteseer said:

Yes, I've wondered about that too - the same unusual weapon developing among three unrelated families and yet still among chondrichthyans.  Why didn't it develop among earlier groups?  I can only assume that it had to do with the radiation of bony fishes during the Mesozoic and again in the early Cenozoic.  Perhaps these were times when densely-schooling fishes became common.  It opened a niche for a predator that could change toward a way to stun/injure several fish in the shortest amount of time possible for easy capture rather than run them down one at a time which would be more of an energy expenditure per fish..  

 

 

That makes sense... But Sclerorhynchids appearance in Barremian coincided with the major neoselachian radiation, which in turn coincided with a series of Early Cretaceous ocean anoxic events. And chondricthyans are far more resistant to anoxia than average bony fishes in part because of their reproductive strategy. I think this is one of the primary reasons for Cretaceous selachian radiation (appearance of lamnoids, carcharhiniforms, batoid diversification, etc.). Therefore I am not sure that in Cretaceous there were much more schools of fish than in Jurassic. Not sure about Eocene though, Pristids seem to appear very suddenly in the fossil record.

 

[Ludwigia]

2 hours ago, siteseer said:

  It would sell only to someone who already knows it's a Schizorhiza and how rare something like that is.

Then I guess I wouldn't have bought this before I saw this thread Man, are you guys here knowledgeable!

Fantastic catch, @mattbsharks

[AncientEarth]

This is one of my specimens, glad you all enjoyed it so much. It came with about a dozen smaller jacketed pieces that were found around the larger specimen, including the tip of the rostrum and more verts/teeth. I believe this came back with me after a trip in 2014. That year the workers in the quarry said several had been found, which was uncommon as normally it's a one off. 

The specimen Troodon posted was from the Aaronson's and sold for quite a respectable price in Tucson 2015. That year my container was late to arrive for the Tucson show and didn't actually deliver until almost a whole month later. I showed this once in 2016, had in a friends booth, but it was hidden in the back. Been in storage ever since.

[AncientEarth]

If anyone wants to see this specimen in person, I will be showing it this year in Tucson.