Northern Sharks Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 I bought this as a mystery shark tooth, but now that I have it in my hands, I'm wondering if it isn't actually some type of claw. It's from the Cretaceous (Campanian) Black Creek group of coastal North Carolina. Please let me know what you think one way or the other. It looks similar to a Whale shark but is too big and too narrow. There is also what may be a cusp on one side, the other side is missing. :huh?: There's no limit to what you can accomplish when you're supposed to be doing something else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Wow,at first glance you think tooth but the more you look at it it starts to look like you said a claw. What kind of material is that thats attached to it? Im not someone that would probably know,just curious as to the material.. Lowes Farm Krew For Life! ~C*J*J*D*D*G*P~ My Shark Teeth Website.MANSFIELD EXCLUSIVES!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Northern Sharks, To me it looks like a squid beak, such as Belosaepia sp. However, I believe the squids or Septoids were mainly tertiary. Interesting fossil though. I'm interested in what others say. JKFoam The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non-remanié Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Interesting one. I can't really tell much from the pictures, but the 2nd view makes me think it isn't a shark's tooth. I don't think it really looks like a clasper or anything else shark or fish related I can think of that might be found in those deposits either. Claw is one of the only possibilites after that but I don't know if it really looks like a claw either! Maybe a more clear and larger picture showing the possible cusp would help. -steve ---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 I was thinking whale shark, or Shimada I think did a paper on a shark called something like "Longijohns". I have a couple like it from the cretaceous of Kansas. I showed them to my friend Mike Everhart and that is what he thought they were. He e-mailed me the paper, but I seem to have misplaced it. For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Looks to me like Squatina or something similar. I wouldn't disagree with Megachasmid either. Its Johnlongia (named of course after the eminent Australian paleoichthyologist John Long - he's actually staring at me right now from the back of one of his books on my shelf. That looks to me like enamel. Claw cores usually look like extremely spongy bone. I say elasmobranch tooth of some sort. Bobby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non-remanié Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Looks to me like Squatina or something similar. I wouldn't disagree with Megachasmid either. Its Johnlongia (named of course after the eminent Australian paleoichthyologist John Long - he's actually staring at me right now from the back of one of his books on my shelf.That looks to me like enamel. Claw cores usually look like extremely spongy bone. I say elasmobranch tooth of some sort. Bobby If it was a sharks tooth I was also thinking squatina or even something like megachasma also, but the 2nd picture seems to have some weird grooves at the base that I just can't seem to process as being consistent with a sharks tooth. It could just be one of those things where you don't realize what it looks like exactly until you look at it that close. So maybe it is a tooth. But I must say that I have definitely seen fragmentary croc claws that are enameled, so I don't think it is necessary to be spongy bone like dino claws we often see. But it might not have the right shape for a claw anyway. ---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non-remanié Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Actually, from the ebay pics it is clearly a sharks tooth. The problem is we can't tell how much matrix is adhering to it to pinpoint a species. And if it is damaged that compounds the problem, it could be a few different types. I'd say maybe Cretodus borodini which could easily turn up in Black Creek age deposits from the East Coast ---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Sharks Posted June 7, 2008 Author Share Posted June 7, 2008 Here's a link to the ebay listing with a few more pics. Thanks for the input so far. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...N:IT&ih=005 There's no limit to what you can accomplish when you're supposed to be doing something else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hybodus Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Squatina hassei most likely, missing quite a bit of the root - Cretaceous Angel Shark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Ya, I wouldn't worry too much about those grooves in the base of the crown. Those are still definitely wrinkles in enameloid. Its still a dead ringer for Squatina - I'm no expert on specific divisions within Squatina (I'm actually working on a paper for Journal of Paleontology, and I've got two teeth I'm just going to leave at Squatina sp.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikaelS Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 Looks like the dwarfed first lower anterior of a sand tiger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoRon Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 It looks like an anterior Cretodus arcuata. You can see from the pics, especially Larry's pics from ebay, that the root lobes are damaged and there were cusps on the tooth. It's not a common tooth to find in North Carolina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 looks like a squid beak to me, but what do I know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 Could it be a small whale tooth?? It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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