MarcoSr Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 I have several thousand well preserved shark and ray vertebrae from the Eocene of Virginia. I also have many more thousands of bony fish vertebrae from the Eocene of Virginia. See the group pictures in this post. The paper plates are 9 inches in diameter for size reference. There is very little written on fossil shark and ray vertebrae that I can find in the literature and what is written is scattered throughout a good number of different papers. I have a unique, extensive assemblage of many different vertebrae types and forms which represent the fish species from the Eocene of Virginia that could be the basis of a very comprehensive paper on fossil shark, ray and bony fish vertebrae. After two years of looking for a fish researcher interested in studying these vertebrae and writing a paper, which in my opinion is really needed to help with fossil fish vertebrae identification, I’ve finally found a renowned fish researcher who is very interested. In an e-mail reply after seeing pictures of the vertebrae, he stated “I can tell you the shark, ray, and bony fish vertebral centra are worth describing! They appear to be beautifully preserved! The dataset looks exciting to me”. I’m hoping that different fish vertebrae types can be identified and described and realize it will be extremely difficult, with the current state of both fossil and extant fish vertebrae research, to try to identify the vertebrae further to fish family/genera/species. I will donate all of the vertebrae so there is a large comparative sample to go along with those vertebrae specifically described in any paper. Pictures of the shark and ray vertebrae ( 1.5 mm to 20 mm): Continued in the next reply. Marco Sr. 6 2 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 Pictures of the bony fish vertebrae: Marco Sr. 9 5 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gizmo Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Amazing collection Marco! November, 2016 April, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 An awesome collection going to a good cause, Nice job! Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 @MarcoSr is the man! I wish we got to hunt with him more often. Don't know much about history Don't know much biology Don't know much about science books......... Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 11 hours ago, Gizmo said: Amazing collection Marco! Walt Thank you. There are a lot of really interesting specimens in the micro matrix that I search all of the time. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 11 hours ago, WhodamanHD said: An awesome collection going to a good cause, Nice job! Thank you. Hopefully a really comprehensive paper gets published eventually that helps us all id our fish vertebrae. Marco Sr. 1 1 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 11 hours ago, SailingAlongToo said: @MarcoSr is the man! I wish we got to hunt with him more often. Jack We definitely need to get together on one of the rivers. Rob hasn't been out collecting in a while. I've been pretty much just collecting micro matrix from a couple of very close to home sites. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 Hey Marco, Congratulations on finding someone to tackle that wonderful collection. Should be a big help to futur collectors when it is published. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted August 31, 2018 Author Share Posted August 31, 2018 13 hours ago, ynot said: Hey Marco, Congratulations on finding someone to tackle that wonderful collection. Should be a big help to futur collectors when it is published. Tony I really think I found the right researcher. He has written lots of great papers and is driving up to my house in Virginia all the way from Georgia to pick up the specimens because he doesn't want to take a chance of anything getting damaged in shipping. So I'm very hopeful a really good paper will be published. Marco Sr. 3 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 2 hours ago, MarcoSr said: Tony I really think I found the right researcher. He has lots of great papers and is driving up to my house in Virginia all the way from Georgia to pick up the specimens because he doesn't want to take a chance of anything getting damaged in shipping. So I'm very hopeful a really good paper will be published. Marco Sr. That’s dedication! Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted August 31, 2018 Author Share Posted August 31, 2018 2 hours ago, WhodamanHD said: That’s dedication! Some researchers really like working with amateurs and go out of their way when doing so. Marco Sr. 2 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 4 hours ago, MarcoSr said: Tony I really think I found the right researcher. He has written lots of great papers and is driving up to my house in Virginia all the way from Georgia to pick up the specimens because he doesn't want to take a chance of anything getting damaged in shipping. So I'm very hopeful a really good paper will be published. Marco Sr. That researcher wouldn't happen to have the initials "DS" by any chance? Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 19 hours ago, FossilDAWG said: That researcher wouldn't happen to have the initials "DS" by any chance? Don Don No, the initials are MN. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted September 3, 2018 Author Share Posted September 3, 2018 Per the request of the researcher I am also donating a gallon freezer bag of original formation that I had kept for chemical analysis and a 10 cup Ziploc container of unsearched fine fraction from the site. I had stopped searching the fine fraction from the site because it was very time consuming and what I was finding wasn’t worth the effort. I’m also adding specimens to the donation. I’ll be including these gem jars that contain Aglyptorhynchus vertebrae, hypural fan specimens and Megalopidae fin spine fragments. I’m also including five Ziploc containers of specimens. The Ziploc containers hold 10 cups and are roughly 9.5 by 5 by 2.5 inches. One container is half full and contains mostly odd bony fish bones and pieces. The other four Ziploc containers are full and contain mostly damaged shark, ray, and fish teeth. If a shark tooth had a missing cusplet or missing root lobe or a damaged tip etc., I put the specimen in the Ziploc containers. However, these containers also contain several thousand, at least, damaged larger shark and ray vertebrae and bony fish vertebrae as well as some smaller intact ones. In total there are over 100,000 specimens in all five of these containers. I kept everything in these Ziploc containers so if a researcher ever wanted to do some statistical analysis on the species from the site they would have a very large sample size. These specimens will help correlate vertebrae to species at the site. Mostly odd bony fish bones and pieces: Continued in the next reply Marco Sr. 3 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted September 3, 2018 Author Share Posted September 3, 2018 Mostly damaged shark, ray, and fish teeth with additional mostly damaged vertebrae: Marco Sr. 2 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daleksec Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Marco my pursuing field of study is Paleoicthyology, if you wait a few years I would love to write the paper on the boney fish of the Eocene of Virginia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted September 4, 2018 Author Share Posted September 4, 2018 20 hours ago, Daleksec said: Marco my pursuing field of study is Paleoicthyology, if you wait a few years I would love to write the paper on the boney fish of the Eocene of Virginia. Unfortunately I've already committed this material to another researcher. However I have lots of similar material from other sites from the Cretaceous to the Pleistocene. Just contact me when you are ready. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted September 8, 2018 Share Posted September 8, 2018 Great stuff Marco...looks like you'll be keeping alot of folks busy for years to come! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted September 8, 2018 Author Share Posted September 8, 2018 6 hours ago, Plantguy said: Great stuff Marco...looks like you'll be keeping alot of folks busy for years to come! Regards, Chris Chris There are definitely enough specimens to keep folks busy. Hopefully the specimens will add something worthwhile to our scientific knowledge. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimbus Posted September 18, 2018 Share Posted September 18, 2018 @MarcoSr Wow, what a beautiful collection. How many years did it take for you to collect them all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted September 19, 2018 Author Share Posted September 19, 2018 3 hours ago, nimbus said: @MarcoSr Wow, what a beautiful collection. How many years did it take for you to collect them all? 10 years to collect them. I made over 150 trips to the site. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimbus Posted September 19, 2018 Share Posted September 19, 2018 @MarcoSr 150 trips, Wow that’s amazing. I love finding Vertebrae’s, but I feel like they’re harder to come by. Very envious of your collection. Thanks for your response~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted September 20, 2018 Author Share Posted September 20, 2018 3 hours ago, nimbus said: @MarcoSr 150 trips, Wow that’s amazing. I love finding Vertebrae’s, but I feel like they’re harder to come by. Very envious of your collection. Thanks for your response~ I live 20 miles from the site. That is why I was able to make so many trips. The researcher comes to my house within a month to pick everything up for donation so they won't be in my collection for much longer. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimbus Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 18 hours ago, MarcoSr said: I live 20 miles from the site. That is why I was able to make so many trips. The researcher comes to my house within a month to pick everything up for donation so they won't be in my collection for much longer. Marco Sr. That’s very kind of you to do that~ I would love to donate my collection eventually one day to a local museum, school, or researcher. I have way too many boxes full of fossilized bones. ~nikki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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