Found at Beaumaris Bay Fossil Site, Melbourne Australia. Thoughts on what it might be?

[RetnuhLissof]

Found the below while fossicking at the Beaumaris Bay Fossil Site/beach in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Not sure what it is— part of a modern shell of something? Fossil of some sort? It's about 2cm x 1cm across. I've shown all 4 sides in the images, but can add more specific angles if needed. Any help would be much appreciated. Bonus if you happen to know how to best clean/prep it. Cheers. 

Edited June 4 by RetnuhLissof
Forgot country in title

[DPS Ammonite]

Welcome to the Forum.
 

What is the white part made of? Calcite, quartz?

[RetnuhLissof]

I'm too new to the hobby to say with certainty, but it certainly looks more like calcite than quartz to my untrained eye (that has seen a lot of quartz rocks). 

 

Thanks for the welcome!

Edited June 4 by RetnuhLissof

[Coco]

Hi,

 

It’s a diodontidé dental palate, on the right side.

 

 

Coco

[RetnuhLissof]

@CocoOh, amazing! Thank you so much. Am I right in assuming it's modern, not fossilised? Or is it a fossil?

 

Additionally, is it broken, or the whole section?

 

Super appreciate your help! 

Edited June 4 by RetnuhLissof
Forgot a question

[Coco]

I am far from Australia, and it is difficult to say on photo. It doesn’t seem very fossilized to me, but perhaps other members of your island will give you more information.

 

Coco

[RetnuhLissof]

That's very fair! Thank you. 

[Fin Lover]

Very nice pictures, by the way!

[RetnuhLissof]

@Fin Lover Thanks so much! There were some very helpful instructions in the forum :-)

Edited June 4 by RetnuhLissof

[Fossildude19]

2 hours ago, RetnuhLissof said:

@Fin Lover Thanks so much! There were some very helpful instructions in the forum :-)

 

Kudos on the pictures, AND actually READING the instructions! 

[RetnuhLissof]

Hahaha, surely it's the bare minimum 😂

[Coco]

Certainly, but rare those who do, it is for this reason that it deserves to be thanked !

 

Coco

[Fossildude19]

6 hours ago, RetnuhLissof said:

Hahaha, surely it's the bare minimum 😂

 

I wish!

[hemipristis]

20 hours ago, RetnuhLissof said:

@CocoOh, amazing! Thank you so much. Am I right in assuming it's modern, not fossilised? Or is it a fossil?

 

Additionally, is it broken, or the whole section?

 

Super appreciate your help! 

It is mostly intact upper jaw.

 

As for whether it is fossil or recent, the genus dates back to the Miocene, so form isn’t a help. The jaw itself is hardened dentine and honestly sometimes it’s hard to tell.  I’ve found yellowed ones that I know are recent, but appear to be fossils, and the reverse.

[RetnuhLissof]

1 hour ago, hemipristis said:

It is mostly intact upper jaw.

 

As for whether it is fossil or recent, the genus dates back to the Miocene, so form isn’t a help. The jaw itself is hardened dentine and honestly sometimes it’s hard to tell.  I’ve found yellowed ones that I know are recent, but appear to be fossils, and the reverse.

Amazing - thank you. Happy to know it's an upper jaw.

 

How interesting re: the difficulty of telling if it's fossilised. Some of the burrfish fossils I've seen in my online/forum searches today have been pure black, but a few academic articles have images of them that are closer to the brown/yellow of the one I found, so I can see how it would be difficult to tell.

 

Do you happen to know if all the little lumps along the outer edge (my fourth image) are teeth? It seems an odd location for teeth, but they certainly look like it.

 

Thanks for your help!

[Coco]

Hi,

 

Or, they are stacked teeth that will replace those that will fall by wear. The robust beak of the current species allows them to feed on carapace or hard-shell prey such as crustaceans, molluscs and especially large sea urchins.

 

Coco

 

Edit : read "YES, they are stacked teeth...".

Edited June 5 by Coco

[RetnuhLissof]

1 hour ago, Coco said:

Hi,

 

Or, they are stacked teeth that will replace those that will fall by wear. The robust beak of the current species allows them to feed on carapace or hard-shell prey such as crustaceans, molluscs and especially large sea urchins.

 

Coco

Oh, how interesting! I've never come across that in a creature. Thanks for the answer; I'll look into their eating habits more. 

[hemipristis]

17 minutes ago, RetnuhLissof said:

Oh, how interesting! I've never come across that in a creature. Thanks for the answer; I'll look into their eating habits more. 

There are some interesting videos on YouTube with ppl feeding their pet porcupinefish.  They'll eat crunch and eat anything

[RetnuhLissof]

5 hours ago, hemipristis said:

There are some interesting videos on YouTube with ppl feeding their pet porcupinefish.  They'll eat crunch and eat anything

Gonna be honest, "pet porcupinefish" is a new phrase for me 😂 I'll go suss the vids out — cheers 

[Oxyrinchus1]

That is definitely a modern porcupine fish mouth plate. I have found several around bayside.