Pristiformes Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Okay, tune up your visual observation and comparitive anatomy skills, 'cause I have a challenging one for y'all. I don't have a southern accent as I grew up a NYer, but enjoy an occasional "y'all" as much as the next guy. What the Hulk is this thing? I found this last Sunday when Mike (Worthy55) and I hunted a Gainesville creek. I sieved this bad dog out of some gravel, but don't know what it is. It seems like it's not bone, but it's heavy like its mineralized. Looks most like a split open nut or seed of some kind. It measures 30 mm long by 12 mm wide. It has a flat side and a rounded side, as the photos show. The texture is fairly smooth on all sides. Any ideas? I need some defining term to write on my collection label. Thanks in advance! Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwe106 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 As I am just an amateur I don't think I could make a great guess but I remember seeing a picture a little while ago that looked similar to that and it was a sturgeon scute. I have no idea if that is it but I'll just go ahead and throw that idea in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 I think it may be a hyperostotic ("Tilly") bone from a fish. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 hmm, auriculatus, what it is? to me it doesn't seem like a seed or nut. i think it's like a split half of a fossilized poop from a fish which was fed exclusively finely ground bone meal. whatever it is, it's something. i had no luck at all googling what auspex said it might be. just got some pictures of weirdnesses. and we put up with all the admissions of habitation outside texas, but you can't admit to saying ya'll on purpose. ya'll is what you say because you say ya'll, not because you thought to say ya'll. and you ain't supposed to say ain't because ain't ain't right. your punishment is to listen to the barbara mandrell version of "i was country when country wasn't cool" one hundred times or until you gag, whichever comes first. do NOT listen to george jones - that's a reward, not a punishment. i have to go eat supper now, ya'll behave while i'm gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmorefossil Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 now im almost 100% sure that this is a really worn broken marine mammal jaw, on the flat side there are parts that stick off wich would be spaces in between the teeth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommabetts Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 On the back side it looks like at one time it was porous, like some kind of bone, but as to what I can't tell it is pretty worn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 On the back side it looks like at one time it was porous, like some kind of bone, but as to what I can't tell it is pretty worn. It's split in half, which is not that uncommon for fossil "ballast bones" (Tilly's). The parent bone, and the ossified growth, are revealed. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pristiformes Posted December 12, 2008 Author Share Posted December 12, 2008 your punishment is to listen to the barbara mandrell version of "i was country when country wasn't cool" one hundred times or until you gag, whichever comes first. do NOT listen to george jones - that's a reward, not a punishment. Tracer, Can I borrow your copy of Barbara Mandrell for use in the above-mentioned punishment? Not the mint condition signed album from your collection of course, I know you wouldn't be down for that, just the CD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pristiformes Posted December 14, 2008 Author Share Posted December 14, 2008 I appreciate all the comments and suggestions on this weird fossil. Please feel free to contribute if anyone else has thoughts as to what it could be. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 maybe i'm just too simplistic. to me, the "top" of the thing appears to have faint, spiral "squeezes" on it, and a very coprolitic shape. this whispers "sphincter" to me, but i hear stuff like that in my head too much normally, so it might just be me. the back simply looks broken, although i'm not sure what that straight line is down the middle of it. the homogeneous look of the thing is a bit bothersome, but hey, it's river-polished looking and tannin stained probably. so, until i'm proven irrefutably wrong, i'm firmly asserting it's half a fece, which i suppose would just be a "fe". might even be a bit less than a "fe", since "fe" + "ce" probably equals five around here. this place is almost as bad as xkcd sometimes. makes me want to quote half of hamlet's soli. (was that too arcane?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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