Post by free4rms on Aug 14, 2011 8:03:31 GMT -5
I have been collecting marine fossils, shark's teeth, whale fossils, etc. for 30 years at a nearby Eocene aged limestone quarry. I have found literally many thousands of shark's teeth since they are abundant in the limestone. There is one type of shark tooth that I particularly like to find, and that is from an extinct cow shark called hexanchus agassizi. For those of you who are familiar with fossil shark teeth, this species is very similar to the microdon species found in Morrocco. I have collected a few hundred of the hexanchus teeth over the years, finding teeth from all the various positions in the jaws. They can vary considerably in appearance depending what part of the jaw they were in. There are two teeth that really look dramatically different from all the others, and these are the symphyseal teeth, the ones exactly in the middle of the jaws, in the front. There is only one in the upper and one in the lower jaws. Since there are only two per shark, they are extremely rare to find, and they are very fragile and easily broken, too. So, in all my years of collecting them, I only found one upper symphyseal, and that was at a least 15 years ago.
I have a collecting buddy who goes into the quarry and he called yesterday and said that he had a tooth he wanted to show me that belonged to another person who collects in the quarry. He had borrowed it to show it to me, and he was in the process of trying to purchase the tooth (which he ultimately did). When he showed it to me, I about fell out of my chair! This collector had found the most perfectly preserved, unbroken specimen I have ever seen. Considering the fact that there are not many localities in the world where these teeth are found, the fact that only two are in the jaws, and that they are extremely fragile, this is truly a one in a million tooth. I would not be surprised if it was the best tooth of it's kind ever found anywhere in the world. Here are two photos of the tooth, shot from the front and rear view. The tooth is small, measuring 5mm in width and 4mm in height. There is still some still sandy limestone matrix clinging to the tooth, but I was not about to try to clean it before shooting the photos. The root is flat and the enamel points are at about a 30 degree angle to the root. The third photo is of a lower lateral (side) tooth from the same type of shark, lying in the limestone next to a dime for scale. This will give you an idea how different in appearance the symphyseal teeth are.
I hope you enjoy the photos, you will most likely never see a better specimen of this tooth ever.
I have a collecting buddy who goes into the quarry and he called yesterday and said that he had a tooth he wanted to show me that belonged to another person who collects in the quarry. He had borrowed it to show it to me, and he was in the process of trying to purchase the tooth (which he ultimately did). When he showed it to me, I about fell out of my chair! This collector had found the most perfectly preserved, unbroken specimen I have ever seen. Considering the fact that there are not many localities in the world where these teeth are found, the fact that only two are in the jaws, and that they are extremely fragile, this is truly a one in a million tooth. I would not be surprised if it was the best tooth of it's kind ever found anywhere in the world. Here are two photos of the tooth, shot from the front and rear view. The tooth is small, measuring 5mm in width and 4mm in height. There is still some still sandy limestone matrix clinging to the tooth, but I was not about to try to clean it before shooting the photos. The root is flat and the enamel points are at about a 30 degree angle to the root. The third photo is of a lower lateral (side) tooth from the same type of shark, lying in the limestone next to a dime for scale. This will give you an idea how different in appearance the symphyseal teeth are.
I hope you enjoy the photos, you will most likely never see a better specimen of this tooth ever.