Mail from the gator.........

[SOHIO]

While I had the scanner goin ..thought id scan and post what gator sent me.....Thanks again man !

 

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[Tnmountains]

You got mail and the collection grows ! Pretty cool present. Wonder what that tooth is below the turtle shell?

 

[SOHIO]

the turtle shell is a part of under a gators skin...the tooth below it is a deer tooth ...theres 2 deer teeth...the triangular pc above the bone is a snake skull...i thought that was pretty cool.

 

[GatorBoy]

Hey hey... yeah he asked for bones and teeth..haha. a couple deer teeth..1 alligator scute 2 pieces of pottery 1snake skull 3 shark vertebrae 1tiger shark tooth 1 point tip found with a 3" stemmed middle archaic point and up at the top a full Hafted end scraper from the same site. It is made that way on the bottom SOHIO..its not broken. They made alot that way where that came from.Also..that bone piece is actually a quick but effective gouge. You can see the beveling on one end with some use wear. They would use those to seperate the connective tissue holding snails like conchs and whelks from their shells

 

[GatorBoy]

This was the finds from that day. You got two of them. Don't know why there is two photos.

 

[Tnmountains]

Turtles and snakes were some good eating i bet. Still are in many places. I like the deer best.Got some out for tomorrow

 

[Harry Pristis]

the turtle shell is a part of under a gators skin...the tooth below it is a deer tooth ...theres 2 deer teeth...the triangular pc above the bone is a snake skull...i thought that was pretty cool.

The alligator bone is called an osteoderm ("skin bone"). It is the imbedded armor on the back of a 'gator. In life, the bone is covered by a scute. Scutes are the chitonous scales that cover these osteoderms. Scutes are thin, flexible, and translucent. Scutes arise from the epidermis of the animals. They are never preserved as fossils.

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The "snake skull" is actually a fish skull, perhaps a neurocranium from a garfish.

 

[GatorBoy]

You can look up aligator scute in any fossil publication and see examples.

 

[Harry Pristis]

The use of scute for osteoderm is collector jargon, an error that has slipped into popular publications.

 

[GatorBoy]

Yeah your correct.. sort of like calling every point an arrowhead. Sometimes its just easier to speak the same language as the majority just so people know what it is I'm talking about.

 

[GatorBoy]

I'm interested in what type of skull that is. I don't belive its a garfish. Here is an example. Also a couple photos of more that I have.

 

[GatorBoy]

I on honestly thought small alligator when I first saw one.

 

[Harry Pristis]

I'm interested in what type of skull that is. I don't belive its a garfish. Here is an example. Also a couple photos of more that I have.

These are probably not the alligator gar (Atractosteus) which you have illustrated. My guess is that these neurocrania are from the longnose gar, Lepisosteus sp.

 

[GatorBoy]

Thanks for the hand.

 

[NC field hunter]

Thanks for the hand.

Gator, I'm pretty sure you have a gar scull as Harry said. I find quite a few of them around the lake. I think I have one in my truck. If so, I'll send you a pic before I toss it. Could the other be a bat? Also, is the "gar" from salt of fresh water? Just wandering if salt water gar exist. People around here call them alligator gar. They look just like gators when you hit them with a light.

 

[GatorBoy]

There are different types of garfish. Alligator, longnose, spotted..ect.. I belive those are longnose or spotted. All fresh water..they can live in a brackish mix to a point.

 

[October]

I have a similar one to the first set of pics and still can't identify it by looking at pics on google.

 

[October]

Yea we have Alligator gar here but i'm just not seeing the resemblance of my piece to a gar skull cap, even a partial. I don't know, i'm so frustrated at this point. I go to the intracoastal waterway here by my house in Myrtle Beach SC to hunt fossils and i've found many things, turtle scutes, shark teeth, including a cosmopolitodus hastalis tooth, fish vertebra, deer ankle bones and a partial whale rib bone. I also found a pleistocene horse tooth, 2 Hardouinia mortonis and 7 Exogyra. Considering the waterway is over 100 years old and it was dug to almost bedrock and exposed the ancient sea bed there's no telling what i'll find. I just hate not being able to truly identify what i have. Just saying bony fish skull drives me insane, lol.

 

[GatorBoy]

Don't know what you're not seeing or why you're not seeing it but a gar fish skull with some damage is what you're holding

 

[October]

Yea i just think i'm looking at it wrong. Thank you for your help.