Cretaceous marine reptile tooth?

[Doctor Mud]

Hi folks,

 

I recently found this tooth in late Cretaceous near shore marine deposits in New Zealand. 
 

At first I thought it was a large fish tooth like Xiphactinus as other marine reptile teeth I’ve found here have strong striations. 
But looking closely I can see weak striations on the labial side with striations appearing to become better developed towards the lingual side. 
I’m deciding whether to expose the lingual side, but boy these teeth are fragile and it’s sitting on a large pebble. 
 

what do you think? Marine reptile?

length = 4cm or 1.6 inches

 

As found. Boy I was lucky. Flipped a Boulder and this rock piece fell off!! Normally it’s a half hour process at least trimming rock around teeth.

 

 

prep progress labial view

 

 

side view. Only the very base is fully exposed. You can see the pebble underneath that complicates prep 

 

other side showing striations  becoming clearer toward bottom (lingual)

 

 

weak striations on labial

 

 

Striations becoming well developed towards lingual (bottom)

 

thanks for looking!!

Edited 19 hours ago by Doctor Mud

[North]

Cool tooth.

Perhaps it could be plesiosaur.

@pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon what do you think?

[Anomotodon]

Very nice find! This is certainly an elasmosaurid plesiosaur.

[Doctor Mud]

51 minutes ago, Anomotodon said:

Very nice find! This is certainly an elasmosaurid plesiosaur.

Thanks! It’s my favorite tooth from this location. Because it’s the best preserved and the crazy way I found it. Like a gift! 
 

Ps love your signature tooth fairy. What would we get if we left a plesiosaur tooth under our pillow 

[Mike from North Queensland]

I agree marine reptile elasmosaur 

[Doctor Mud]

21 minutes ago, Mike from North Queensland said:

I agree marine reptile elasmosaur 

Thanks! 

[Doctor Mud]

Decided the risk is just too high to try and prep off the pebble it’s sitting on. I think the pebble helped hold it together as the tip has some serious fractures! 

Final clean. 
 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Doctor Mud

[Anomotodon]

10 hours ago, Doctor Mud said:

Ps love your signature tooth fairy. What would we get if we left a plesiosaur tooth under our pillow 

A whole plesiosaur minus the teeth 

[Doctor Mud]

4 minutes ago, Anomotodon said:

A whole plesiosaur minus the teeth 

 Now I’m imagining a plesiosaur with its false teeth out. 

[North]

15 minutes ago, Doctor Mud said:

Decided the risk is just too high to try and prep off the pebble it’s sitting on. I think the pebble helped hold it together as the tip has some serious fractures! 

I personaly prefer to keep the rock part as it makes it to stand out better and works as pedestal.

[Doctor Mud]

1 minute ago, North said:

I personaly prefer to keep the rock part as it makes it to stand out better and works as pedestal.

Me too, I always prefer to keep some rock if I can. It’s so a connection to where it was found. 
 

It’s a conglomerate that the tooth is in. So within that rock is a big pebble. it’s dark brown. 

 

I was considering keeping the rock on the right and removing the big pebble to expose the underside. 
 

but I’ve seen too many of these explode trying to extract them. 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

13 hours ago, Anomotodon said:

Very nice find! This is certainly an elasmosaurid plesiosaur.

 

11 hours ago, Mike from North Queensland said:

I agree marine reptile elasmosaur 

 

I concur: definitely an elasmosaur tooth! Increadible find, especially the way you uncovered it! Nice one!

 

1 hour ago, Doctor Mud said:

I was considering keeping the rock on the right and removing the big pebble to expose the underside. 
 

but I’ve seen too many of these explode trying to extract them. 

 

With how rare good specimens are, the indications of the integrity of this tooth having been affected, and potential complexity of exposing more of the tooth, I don't think I'd risk it either. Looks great the way you cleaned it up!