Turtles
Apparently, the teeth of Tiger sharks are specialized to saw through and crunch hard shelled animals, such as turtles. So where you find Tiger shark teeth, you might also expect fossilized turtles, and such is the case at Brownie's Beach. The most common and easiest to recognize turtle fossils are pieces of their shell or carapace.
The two pieces on the left are from the mid-line of the carapace of a
softshell(?) or from a leatherback(?) turtle.
This piece comes from the side of the shield. The characteristic
fracture pattern of the top edge shows where it was attached the
the next piece. You can see this in the picture of the
Trionix
at The Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley.
I have also found fragments of leatherbacks. These turtles have seven ridges over the length of their backs, which show up as ridges in some of the pieces of their carapace.
Bony Fish
I believe the piece of bone with circular features on the left is part of a pharyngeal plate, though I must admit it looks very different from all other ones I've seen pictures off. The 5 dark spots on the right picture are tiny pharyngeal teeth, measuring 0.5-0.9 mm. Under the magnifying glass these teeth have cone shaped crowns, and a central indentation on the root. Pharyngeal teeth can also be oval, flattened and much larger. You can also find fish vertebra and spines. Also see the high resolution image on the scanner page.
Shells
These pictures show fossilized shells, and inner casts of shells where the actual shell itself has disappeared. The tall shells are turitellas, the rimmed clams are venus shells.
Crabs
These fossilized crab claws are really peculiar. Many people (including myself)
are confused by these fossils, especially if they find a few of these before
knowing what fossil shark teeth really look like..... The largest claw in
the picture is 18mm long.
Land Mammals
 The crown of a molar (10×9mm) from a land mammal? |
Don't get confused by the much more frequent "fresh" deer bones and teeth....