for the wildlife people...?

[naturegirl]

I found it on a creek bank, it's small, it looks like a tooth. Maybe. At first I thought it was a small jawbone, but I do think it's a single tooth. doesn't look like a fossil. I really don't think it's a crawdad claw. what is it? I've looked at fish teeth, goose "teeth" and some small mammal teeth, but, what is it?

thanks
ng

 

[turtlefoot13]

I haven't seen anything like that before. Let me do some looking.

Doug

 

[KRAZYHORSES]

some kind of indian jewelry piece? neat krazyhorses

 

[jopher]

Thats bizarre?? Ageed, it looks like a single tooth. The angle of the root would suggest a forward facing location...like on the very end of an animals snout. The serrations are more like a rear tooth....for grinding up vegetation?? Wierd.
Eohippus

 

[niffler72]

I don't think that's a tooth. The markings are too perfect. It looks like a piece of bone jewlery.

 

[KRAZYHORSES]

some kind of talon?

 

[naturegirl]

I wondered about a decorative something also, but when you hold it, it really looks natural, the "grinding" edge I mean. and it is very small. Also would maybe have a hole drilled through it. It reminded me of a fish tooth, like some kind of shark, remotely, but it doesn't seem as old as a fossil would be. If it's a single tooth, it does seem it would jut out at a strange angle at the end of the jaw. I'm in northern Oklahoma, if that helps. It seems like a hard enamel all over, very polished(?)

thanks for the responses

 

[Tony in SC]

Looks like a reptile jawbone. Kinda like a lizard? Tony

 

[naturegirl]

Hi Tony, I wondered about that too. Our biggest lizard is the collared lizard, and he has a notorious bite, but he has sharp teeth too. at least as far as I can find. I guess it could belong to an exotic pet, maybe iguana? Have to look into that.

Nope, just looked, they have teeth set into a jaw bone. not a grooved jawbone. Maybe turtle, but not like any I've seen. I'm still thinking single tooth.

thanks!
.

 

[naturegirl]

Carp tooth!

 

[turtlefoot13]

I looked through lots of teeth and never thought of looking at a carp's tooth! Nice job on the id.

Doug

 

[jpitt1970]

Although it looks like a tooth, it is actually part of the gill plate. I found what I thought was a wierd fossil jaw with those exact same funky "teeth" a few years ago. My Father is friends with several of the Paleontologists at the Smithsonian, so we brought it by and had it identified as a Farangial Gill plate of a fish.

 

[naturegirl]

Thanks turtlefoot... I almost got it. It's a pharyngeal arch from a common carp.

thank you jpitt, I read a little more. It's a bony arch in the fish's throat that is used to grind vegetaion and snails? against a bony plate in it's throat. Not sure if that's exact, but close. I think that's interesting