My Big Fish Story - The One That Didn't Get Away!

[siteseer]

8 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

Yup. No need to carry it either if the ground isn’t too rocky. They slide well enough over all but the most uneven surfaces. A rope can slow it’s decent down a steep grade and make it easier to drag.

 

Yes, sometimes a makeshift sled is better than a wheelbarrow.  A big piece of cardboard can work in a pinch.  Some people save the box a fridge or other appliance comes in just in case they can use it sometime like that.  Sometimes, you can find something like that at a local UPS shipping center.   Some of them have boxes of all kinds of sizes.

 

Years ago (early 90's), I tagged along with a group of UC Berkeley students who were "goofing around," which for them was prospecting.  We came upon a nice site for Astrodapsis (Late Miocene sea urchins) and we took out a big matrix chunk.  It was too big and unwieldy to carry out and we were on a sand hill with several hundred yards of sand back to the truck.  A wheelbarrow would have been tough to maneuver had we had one.  We did have some rope so we tied it so we could drag it out and it worked great.  Years later, I heard the chunk was on display somewhere

[LSCHNELLE]

@GPayton

 

"After getting home and pulling the tooth out of the matrix tonight, my best guess is that it's a posterior tooth from Ptychodus anonymous, one of the more common species from the Cenomanian; although decurrens is also a possibility. "

 

Just looking at the anterior side of the pictured Ptychodus in matrix, I would eliminate P. anonymous due to fine anastomosing ridges extending to the margin. This is therefore most likely either P. decurrens as you suggest or possibly a P. occidentalis (posterior).

[Paul1719]

Tremendous find!!! Congrats! 

[GPayton]

Update: 

It's been over two weeks now since @Jared C and I made our discovery and it seems like things are finally geared up to move in the right direction. As much as I'd like to share everything that's come up recently, I'm afraid there's a couple of important details that I'll have to leave out because they might give away the location of the fossil and until it's out of the ground that will have to remain a secret. The good news is that it is for sure going to come out of the ground! 

 

I've been in contact with people in the Baylor geology department, at the Waco Mammoth Site, and at the Mayborn Museum (which is the Baylor-associated museum that also acts as the repository for the fossils found at the Mammoth Site) since the day the fish was found. Last Friday I took a group of those who were interested and that I had been in contact with to the location to get their opinions. In total our little retinue consisted of the head ranger from the Mammoth Site, both the director and the paleontology collections manager from the Mayborn, and one of the two paleontology professors Baylor has along with a graduate student of his. 

 

 

Despite my worries that rain had severely damaged the exposed bone, it was exactly as I had last seen it - the foil Jared and I had covered what we could see in was still in place and none of the overburden had moved an inch. A quick examination of the bone was performed and a tarp used to replace the aluminum foil before we made the walk back to our cars. On the way, the two representatives from the Mayborn both agreed that the museum would love to house the specimen. As soon as the geology department can put together a research plan explaining how we're planning on performing the excavation and when we can secure permission from all the relevant parties, we'll get to work! 

 

 

My most optimistic expectation after finding the bones was that once I'd notified professionals, they'd thank me for making the discovery and then politely tell me to get out of the way while they did the excavation and prep themselves; if I was really lucky they'd also give me the occasional email update on how everything was progressing. Fortunately I couldn't have been more wrong - I'll get to be involved in both the excavation and the eventual prep!

 

Although it's a little sad that this is probably due to just how few people working at Baylor and the Mammoth Site have actual excavation experience, it works out perfectly fine in this case. Because the area of exposed material is only about two feet wide it means that the job of excavating it can really only be done by three or four people at a time anyway. I'm incredibly excited that I'll get to have this opportunity to participate in real in-the-field paleontology work, especially since I'm still in undergrad and there's probably few graduate students that ever get the chance to be involved in something this exciting. 

 

The prevailing opinion after the visit was that the bones were from a mosasaur. However, I continued to believe that my original guess that it was Xiphactinus would turn out to be the case instead. As of today, it seems like I was right after all - and with no less of a confirmation than from SMU's Dr. Polcyn, one of the leading mosasaur experts himself! 

 

The Mayborn Museum's director has been in contact with Dr. Polcyn for a while now as the museum has two separate plesiosaur skeletons that were found nearby many years back that have never been properly studied or fully prepped out. Dr. Polcyn has been helping the museum out with advice on how this should be done over the last several months and was more than willing to also give his opinion on my find. I had to laugh when I saw that the image he included in his reply was the exact same picture of a Xiphactinus maxilla that I had been using to try and convince people that it wasn't a mosasaur from the beginning.  

 

All in all things are looking good! Hopefully I'll have another update to give everybody soon. 

 

- Graham 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by GPayton

[JohnJ]

11 minutes ago, GPayton said:

Dr. Polcyn has been helping the museum out with advice on how they should be prepped over the last several months and was more than willing to also give his opinion on my find. I had to laugh when I saw that the image he included in his reply was the exact same picture of a Xiphactinus maxilla that I had been using to try and convince people that it wasn't a mosasaur since the beginning.  

 

Great news about the latest progress!  

 

Sounds like a few directors need to "hit the books" to brush up on identification skills.  

[digit]

Glad that the ball is rolling and that you'll be able to take part in the future of this fossil. Looking forward to additional updates as progress merits.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Mikrogeophagus]

Looking forward to seeing that thing out of the ground! Wonder what made them all think it was mosasaur.

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Awesome to hear the ball is rolling again! Can't wait for the continuation. It all seems pretty exciting

Edited September 8, 2022 by pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

[Jared C]

This is epic!!! You really know the right people, I wish I can get a speedy response like this on my mosasaur and plesiosaur stuff! (Polcyn is very helpful but obviously just one guy, and swamped with projects)

Like others, looking forward to hearing more about this dig. I'm surprised the foil held as well as it did, thanks goodness

[karstic]

Really cool find. Well done!

[PaleoPastels]

Oh my goodness, how am I just now seeing this post! Amazing work you two! 
 How great was it that you guys came prepared and saved such a wonderful thing sticking out! Also- that ammo!  Gotta love the shark teeth too, I swear I never tire of finding them here! Come to POC near where I live if you want sharks- we have them by the jar fulls! 
 

(Scary big spider in one of your pictures eeek!) 

 

[GPayton]

17 hours ago, Jared C said:

This is epic!!! You really know the right people, I wish I can get a speedy response like this on my mosasaur and plesiosaur stuff! (Polcyn is very helpful but obviously just one guy, and swamped with projects)

Like others, looking forward to hearing more about this dig. I'm surprised the foil held as well as it did, thanks goodness

I'm sure a lot of the fast turnaround time is due to just how rare coming across something like this is to most, if not all, of the Mayborn Museum and geology department staff - I doubt they've dealt directly with the excavation of a fossil of this scale in the last couple of decades or even at all. By comparison Dr. Polycn is up to his ears in all of his mosasaur material from Angola, projects from other universities like the plesiosaurs at the Mayborn, and local finds like yours. Having too many giant reptile skeletons to deal with - now that's a problem I'd like to have! 

[PaleoPastels]

OP (or anyone else) I have a question!

You mentioned that “ it was a good thing Jared had his paraloid and acetone which saved you guys a trip to Lowes” - holy cow dones Lowes SELL paraloid/acryloid tablets!?  Because if I can stop ordering them online that would be so great! Ive never seen them there! 

[digit]

Nope. Likely just for the acetone. B-72 or other consolidants tend to be specialty items only available online.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken