Squalis rule !

My alias is chosen for the Synechodus lerichei  Herman 1977; one of the most elusive if not the most elusive of shark teeth to be found in the Late Cretaceous outcrops close to my hometown. strangely enough I have found a specimen last year, while other, far less rare teeth have eluded me up until now, one of them being Squalicorax pristodontus Agassiz 1843. Sure, I have a couple of nice specimens from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, but what's the fun in buying some of those, apart from negotiating a fair price with a Moroccan?
But, so I kept telling myself, "My day will come" and it sure did the other day.

Inspired by a trip report of a friend along the US East Coast who did well on a recent trip, I decided to swap the Neogene sands in the Antwerp area for the Cretaceous outcrops much closer to home, basically on what I would call "A feeling that I should go there and check it out".

When I got there my first impression was that only overburden had been moved since I was there last time and little to none of the "mergel", the term locally used for the sandy chalk we find around here.
So first I went looking among the old Hemipneustes-beds first and sure enough within half an hour I had found a nice one in the matrix. Can't have enough of those .

Wandering around a bit for the next hour I noticed that contrary to my first impression they had been blasting and moving chalk on the second level from the top. After a cursory glance I decided to pick up my belongings on level one and went down the slope with blast-material. On the way down, backpack on my back, bucket in one hand and my eternal companion, the small pick axe, in the other, I noticed "something black" gleaming from a large block. Not wanting to bother with putting everything down first and have a closer look I just whacked the block slightly above that "black thing" and look and behold: this pristine Squalicorax pristodontus Agassiz 1843 sat there, staring at me. I was just flabbergasted.

After that I was basically in gravy mode, but Lady Luck had something else in store for me, within the hour even.
Walking around aimlessly on the next level my eyes just fell on another black object protruding from a chalk block.
Looking closer this time I saw it was another Squalicorax pristodontus! And judging by the part showing this one was even bigger, maybe even twice as big as the first one. Now I hardly ever sit down to admire a find in the field, but believe me, this time I did.

After that I bagged some big belemnites, a few more of the little teeth and a juvenile Hemipneustes, but that was just icing on the cake.

So there you have it; I left home with only a beat up Squalicorax pristodontus crown stashed away somewhere at home and come home with two beauties ...... what I nice hobby we have ....