Image: Helicoprion ferrieri fossil shark jaw, Brewster County TX

Description: Helicoprion ferrieri (Hay, 1907) fossil shark jaw from the Permian of Texas, USA (public display, FMNH PF 7445, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA). This remarkable fossil is a symphyseal tooth whorl from the lower jaw of an edestoid shark. It is in fossiliferous limestone of the Decie Ranch Member of the Skinner Ranch Formation (Wolfcampian Series, lower Lower Permian) from Dugout Mountain, northern Brewster County, Glass Mountains, western Texas, USA. Sharks have a cartilaginous skeleton and mineralized, phosphatic teeth (as are all vertebrate teeth). Helicoprion is undoubtedly the oddest shark in geologic history (see reconstructions elsewhere in this photo album). The specimen shown here is described in Kelly & Zangerl (1976) - Helicoprion (Edestidae) in the Permian of West Texas. Journal of Paleontology 50: 992-994. Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii, Eugeneodontida, Edestoidea, Agassizodontidae/Helicoprionidae
Title: Helicoprion ferrieri fossil shark jaw, Brewster County TX
Credit: Helicoprion ferrieri fossil shark jaw (Skinner Ranch Formation, Lower Permian; Dugout Mountain, northern Brewster County, western Texas, USA) 1
Author: James St. John
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License: CC BY 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
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