|
ABOVE AND BELOW PHOTOS SHOW EXQUISITE AND COMPLETE PRESERVED SAWFISH ROSTRUM
RARE AND SUPERB FIN RAY AND INTERNAL ORGAN DETAIL INCLUDING GILLS IN PHOTO BELOW
IF YOU LOOK TO THE LEFT OF THE ABOVE PHOTO, YOU CAN SEE WHERE THE STOMACH WOULD HAVE BEEN AND TWO JAWS OF WHAT APPEAR TO BE ANOTHER SHARK THAT THIS SAWSHARK HAD EATEN. BELOW 2 PHOTOS SHOW MACRO-DETAIL OF THIS VERY RARE FEATURE. SOFT BODY PARTS OF PREY WOULD HAVE BEEN SOON DIGESTED IN THE STOMACH OF THIS SAWSHARK BUT THE HARDER JAWS AND INDIGESTIBLE TEETH REMAIN AS SEEN BELOW. THERE IS ALSO A SWALLOWED TOOTH FROM EITHER, THIS SAWSHARK OR ANOTHER VICTIM OF THIS SAWSHARK.
ABOVE PHOTO SHOWS A COMPLETE TAIL TO THE VERY END WITH VERY RARE INTACT TINY VERTEBRAE FULLY PRESERVED!
|
|
ULTRA RARE COMPLETE SAWSHARK FOSSIL WITH JAWS OF ANOTHER EATEN SHARK IN STOMACH CONTENTS Sub-lithographic Limestone Formation - Nammoura, Lebanon LATE CRETACEOUS (CENOMIAN): 96 - 92 million years ago Not to be confused with the common and highly numerous guitarfish, skate and ray fossils found on the market from Lebanon such as Rhinobatos, Heliobatis and Cyclobatis, this is an ULTRA RARE and COMPLETE fossil of a sawshark (or sawfish) of the rare species Libanopristis. The quality and degree of preservation of this fossil is truly top-notch and presents itself as an excellent opportunity to add a very rare type of prehistoric marine creature to any advanced collection. Sawshark fossils of complete animals are very, very rare and of the few we have seen, this specimen is the most complete and best preserved. The rostrum is complete and shows excellent detail and well-mineralized preservation in the stone. From tip to tail end, this sawshark is fully present with even the most diminutive anterior-most vertebrae still articulated and present as seen in the second to last photo above. There is rare gill and fin ray cartilage detail as well as a rare presence of soft body tissue with the presence of natural white and creamy pink pigmented fossil impressions. Soft body tissue is VERY RARE in the fossil record and since all sharks are made up of cartilage, not bone, fossils of skeletal detail are also highly unusual and rare. Most interesting is the presence of the jaws of a dogfish-type shark that this sawshark ate. An associated upper and lower jaw with very fine teeth detail can be clearly seen perfectly preserved where the stomach of this sawshark would have been. There is also another larger single tooth in the stomach that might have been from the same eaten shark or another victim of this larger sawshark. Aside from the impeccable detail of this sawshark fossil, to see clear and finely preserved remains of other preyed-upon sharks in the stomach of this fossilized sawshark is truly a treat and adds immensely to the value and educational display of this remarkable specimen. There is less than 1% restoration of this sawshark overall, mainly to highlight small, soft body parts. There is minor repair professionally done to cracks and for aesthetics and safety of the specimen, the sawshark body was set into a larger and more stabile limestone plate from the same formation and fossil layer. For its RARE source provenance, this is really a remarkable example of an uncommon marine fossil. Its stunning preservation make this an investment specimen, as well as a highly impressive display fossil for interior design. It is a prize example for the very discriminating collector seeking to acquire only the best fossils available. Specimens like this are true investments considering the world-wide appeal of fossils and the demand for the rarest and finest examples such as this. Beware of the swarm of carved and/or painted fake slab fossils of all different forms of sea life from Lebanon. It is quite the norm to take blank rock or rock with only a tiny portion of a fossil body and recreate the entire animal in paint and carving. The NATURAL presence of very fine details can be seen on close inspection but fakes will lack such detail. Please see here for further explanation. This is one of the few specimens we have ever seen of this species of sawshark from Lebanon's Cretaceous deposits, and it is the finest and most complete example we have known. An exquisitely preserved and COMPLETE sawfish fossil is RARE. Well-suited for collectors or museums that wish to add an aesthetic, important and extremely scarce addition to their collection. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Sawfishes
are very lethargic animals, spending much of their day nestled in the
muddy sea/river floor. At night, they scull slowly through the shallows,
using their sensitive saw to find buried prey, which are then raked from
the sediment to be consumed. It is useful to view the sawfishes' unique
rostrum like a metal detector combined with a clam rake. Roughly 40 species of modern sawfishes are known; only a handful survive today. INVESTMENT GRADE COMPLETE SPECIMEN OF THIS RARE SPECIES WITH FULLY PRESERVED ROSTRUM AND EXQUISITE NATURAL ANATOMY RARE STOMACH CONTENTS INCLUDES JAWS OF ANOTHER EATEN SHARK! - TRUE SAWFISH FOSSILS OF THIS MAGNITUDE ARE RARE!!! 30.65" long by 22.5" overall in matrix, sawfish is 32.25" long $17995 F020 Actual Item - One Only |
|
17995 |
Related
to the modern day sawfish, the Onchopristis had a long, hard
shovel-shaped snout lined on both sides with barbed teeth. This
fascinating member of the shark and ray family
trolled the
murky bottoms of warm Cretaceous seas nearly 100 million years ago. To gain
insight as to how this extinct animal might have lived we can examine
the modern day sawfish.