- Weekend 7. Those entering the mine this weekend, did so without the benefit of rain during the prior week - an unfortunate break for all. Howie Cohn advised me that those who ventured out this cool and overcast day, did very poorly. A four inch megalodon and some smaller ones (and makos) were found, but not much. He noted that Eric had nothing to show, John Everette's best find was a dermal scute, and another Jersey collector had a nice Hemipristis - enough said. Let's all hope that those guys coming up from Texas have rain during the week.
- Aurora Fossil Fair. This annual event is again scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend, this year it's May 23-24. Candance advises that Sat. times are 9 am until 6 pm for the booths and displays with a street dance at 8pm. Sunday times are 12 - 6 with a closing about 6:30 pm.
- Hotel Shortage. For those planning to visit on the May 2nd weekend (New Jersey and Maryland clubs), all hotels are taken - skeet tournament or something. Make reservations in New Bern.
- ABCNEWS.COM. A couple more interesting pages available, one on Clumsy Dinosaurs and the other regarding Triassic-Jurassic boundary extinctions.
- Weekend 6. Yesterday's prompting worked. Kim Greene wrote in to provide details on the weekend that included the Grand Strand club. The mine had received several inches of rain during the week which helped collecting. She remebered that Tom Parks found a great looking (about 2-1/2") Paratodus, a NC couple each left with megs (he a 4 incher and she, a smaller, but prettier one), Ellie Rouse a 4-1/4" lower, one unidentified collector, two whale teeth, and another a section of seal jaw with 3 or 4 teeth. Kim did pretty well herself - a couple Carcharocles and two I. hastalis, all in the 2-3 inch range. Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!
- Maybe it has something to do with tax filing, but I've heard nothing about weekend 6. With the rain last week, I had really expected some interesting finds -- so, let's hope we get some feedback next weekend.
- Off topic but interesting was my Cretaceous collecting of two weeks ago. In addition to the typical Big Brook results, Roberta's techniques allowed me to come up with teeth from Rhinobatos sp, Ischyrhiza mira (oral and rostral), I. avonicola (rostral), Ptychotrygon vermiculata, Rhombodus sp, Lissodus sp, Cretodous borodini, and more. If you're a NJPS member, Roberta will be leading a field trip for this material on May 15th.
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ABC News has another interesting item on its website, this time on Dinosaur Hunting Packs. Bill Heim is including a great Carcharocles megalodon image that can be used for dream-inspiring wallpaper. 
- Dave Thompson from the Michigan group confirmed many of Bob's details, and mentioned that Rita McDaniels had "a lovely, pristine megalodon tooth that ran 3 inches and, which was an unusual reddish color," he'd not seen before. Dave went on to note that he'd found a couple Notorynchus lowers, and Melissa a couple uppers. He even verified Bob's "handful of Makos" - Dave stated, " really! An impressive sight."
- Weekend 5. It's taking longer and longer to receive feedback -- collecting must really be getting poor. Fortuneately, Bob Lyons reported in from Michigan (and I thought I had a long drive). There had apparently been some rain, but not enough to have significant impact on results. It was a single bus day, and a combination of rain, wind and cold made the 2:00 bus a popular option. Bob saw a single large tooth (5" Pungo River-worn), some cow shark teeth, a ?basking shark gillraker (Eric Thompsen probably) and an assortment of miscellaneous items. Bob managed "only a handful of mako teeth" (I don't remember the last time I could make that statement), a bird humerus & radius-ulna and some other items. [As the saying goes, a bad day at Aurora beats a good day just about anywhere else.]
- For those that remember our Japanese guest from last spring, Hideo is still going through sand he brought back from the mine - last week he came across a nearly complete Isistius. He has started a website, make a visit.
- Unable to get down to Lee Creek this spring, I've had to satisfy myself with a touch of the the New Jersey Cretaceous -- guided by Roberta Dann. For those of you that don't know the name, she's president of the New Jeresy Paleo Society and, with Sylvia Seda Pucci, authors of the current Paleontograph series on Cretaceous batoids from Big Brook. I'm trying to convince her to contribute to this site -- she's made some terrific finds, and Gerry Case has been working closely with her on the identifications. With her guidance, I've added some great material to my collection.
- Weekend 4. I've noticed that when collecting at the mine drops off, that I hear less about the weekends result. Steve Alter wrote in and confirmed this trend. He saw nothing particularly great (or large) come out, probably because there'd been no rain since Weekend 3's double-header. His finds were highlighted by an Angel shark, some cow sharks, a large Tiger and (paleontologists please take note as to the clarity you've brought to the mega-toothed sharks) "a little C. angustidens/ sub-auriculatus/ chubutensis/ whateverlodon". Steve confirmed that the collecting area is a bit bigger (expanded to the back of last year's collecting area) and includes some nice Yorktown tailings and Pungo limestone. Candace verified last week that the flare and sign-in stories are true. The rules make sense to me, safety should be a high priority.
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Dinosaur Entrails ABC keeps coming up with good short articles to post. This week it's on that baby Italian velociraptor-type dinosaur -- Bambinosaurus?. The intestines and other internal structures were exposed during preparation. - Time Chart I finally got the opportunity to make-up a Geological Time Chart for the site. I realize there are a few out there on the web, but hope this one will prove particularlly useful for fossil sharks.
- Tooth Terminology If you've ever read elasmobranch tooth/dentition descriptions, you'll note that some terms are used differently by different authors. In Roe vs Row Henry Mollet and myself have attempted to clarify prior usage and suggested a standardized terminology.
- More Weekend 3. A couple additional reports came in today. Kim Greene reported leaving the mine with a terrific 6.5 cm Isurus hastalis tooth. On Sunday, while working the Blounts Creek spoil piles, Ellie Rouse found a beautiful 2 cm Triaenodon and a cow shark symphyseal (genus not determined) 1.5 cm wide by 7 mm high.
Richard Chandler's assessment of this weekend confirmed Candace's; the finds were generally better than the week before. He noted that Chris Carroll's mega-gem was found by "turning over rocks and looking under (the start of a new collecting technique?)." He noted that Eric Thompsen had a choice seal canine and that Melissa Manwaring also found a "truly HUGE Hemipristis serra (as well as a tiny gem C. carcharias lower anterior)." He also revealed John Everette's secret collecting method for the day -- he found his big one while sitting down..
- Weekend 3. Well the mine has hung in there for another week. Candance reported that the Aurora Fossil Club had a good day's collecting. She saw four large megs, John Everette had a 4-1/2 incher and Betsy ? with two, 4-1/4 & 3-1/2" specimens. Chris Carroll, a first-timer, had the show stopper -- it measured 5-1/8 x 4-1/8 inches. She noted that several nice makos were found along with the usual small stuff. Melissa found several Notorynchus teeth and John Nay. a wonderful symphyseal (not sure if its Hexanchus or Notorynchus).
- More weekend 2 information. Richard Chandler reported that the Parotodus benedeni tooth found by Jack Gollohon last Saturday was truly remarkable. "Unquestionably the best I have ever seen - about 3" long, a beautiful light gray with white root, and the only damage I could see was a modest drying crack on the lingual side of the root. . . . truly a tooth to die for."
- That big Ecphora from Week 1. Despite the uniqueness of such a large quadricostata, Ken Pendley would prefer to have a large megalodon tooth. If anyone out there would like to work a trade with Ken, he can be reached at Ken.Pendley@dnr.state.oh.us.
- Goodbye Hideo. Hideo Yabe first posted on the Lee Creek Website about a year ago. He is now putting up his own website, and will soon leave this one. When he's finished, I'll move the link to the "other paleo-faunas" section. His new site will provide additional information on his research of Miocene sharks of Japan.
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Another Good ABC Item. I certainly didn't expect to find worthy material at ABCNEWS.COM twice in the same week, but that's the case today. The article A Bird With a Dinosaur Toe? is definitely worth reading. While I'm plugging their site, try Dino Feathers Stir Debate, and Feathers Fly in Fossil Fight.
- Mine Rumors: Since posting Week 2 collecting results, I've been told that there have been some real changes. The collecting area was expanded, saftey flares are now being issued and visitors must sign in and out of the pit. Becky was quoted as saying, "that the next incident will be the end of collecting". Also passed on was that, "we will not be allowed into another area and will be stuck with this one into the future".
Rumors have been a fact-of-life for years - if anyone can shine some light on these, it would be appreciated by all.
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New Website Contents. The move to ELASMO.COM continues. The "extant batoid" and "other paleo-faunas" is now up (click image to check out Muddy Creek), and I uploaded "Elasmo-books" this evening. The transition is about 80% done. Another week of work, and I can sit back and relax -- do my taxes or something else interesting. - Paleo-club Website. Eighteen months ago, I wrote to each of the Paleo-clubs that frequent the mine, to offer cyber-space for their club on the Lee Creek website. There were no takers at the time. Again having available space, I will extend this offer to Paleo-clubs that include Lee Creek in their yearly field trip schedule.
Provide me with an ascii file which includes club and membership details, schedules, dues, etc. and I'll give you a club homepage. The address will be www.elasmo.com/paleoclub/your_club_name. The only restriction I would currently place on this offer is that I will not support the buying and selling of fossils, and I cannot provide space for heavy (large file) graphics.
- ELASMO-COM. If you're reading this, you've made it to the new Lee Creek website. Most of the restructuring should be transparent, just reorganized the directory layout to allow more organized file arrangement. The site does include new pages, so poke around and enjoy.
DINOFEST is coming to Philadelphia in a couple weeks. If you can't get into Aurora, it might be a good alternative. For Information on Dinofest, check out www.dinofest.org. or click on the image. 
Fish with Fingers. I was forewarned of Nightline's extrordinary coverage of a "fish with fingers", otherwise I'd have been watching the NCAA and have missed it. If anyone failed to catch the show, it was about a devonian fish from Pennsylvania with arm and hand-like structures. Click on image for a short article and five minute RealVideo, it's well worth the visit. - Aurora - Weekend 2. Heard from Candace Holliday and Tom Caggiano on the North Carolina Club's trip into the mine. They reported on a beautiful 3" Parotodus benedeni tooth, a 4-3/4" C. megalodon and several nice makos leaving the site.
Amongst the usual small teeth and bones, Candace's finds included a bird "toe bone", 2/Notorhynchus teeth and a shark rostral node. She noted that Becky found a Squalodon molar and Marsha Johnson a very large whale tooth. ("Didn't measure it, but it was as long as the inside of my hand from middle finger to my wrist & at least 1" in diameter.") Tom found "the largest shark vertebra I ever saw out of there" and assorted smaller teeth.
- Aurora - Late News from Week One. After putting out last week's news, I heard from John Nay. His wife and he collected a large Croc. tooth, an unusual crab claw, a dozen porpoise teeth and many smaller shark teeth. An Ohio collector wrote that a 4-1/2 " Ecphora quadricostata was found, 85-90% complete. Anybody know how big they get?
- Well, the first report of the new season is in, and it doesn't bode well for this collecting season. A capacity crowd entered the mine to collect on a cool day under overcast skies. Only a few would depart on the early bus. They were greeted by a smaller collecting area than last fall, which was further reduced by high water. The winter's weather continued to erode the gentle rolling mounds, making it even more difficult for new material to be exposed.
As might be expected, after a three month hiatus, some interesting material was found, but not in the quantitiy that might be expected. Howie Cohn reported on his observations. About a half dozen C. megalodon teeth were found, most about three inches. Frank Elder found a nice 5-1/4 incher, and a second large tooth, in lesser condition, was also recovered. Joy Pierce came up with a large mako and Squalodon premolar. Becky and Eric Thompsen each recovered a bramble shark tooth from Pungo River exposures. As for Howie, he carried out a limestone-jacketed whale vertebra
The North Carolina club will be collecting next weekend, and the Aurora club on the 21st. After 3 weeks of sharp-eyed collecting, we should have a good feeling as to what the mine will be capable of producing the remainder of the season.
- After a three month break, it's time to bring this site back online. Things have been happening, but weekly updates were not necessary.
- New Collecting Season. For many of us on the East coast, we can't say we've had a Winter, at least not yet. Weather is another matter, it certainly weathered over the last couple months and I doubt that the mine has escaped the elements. Hill-less (is that a word?) or not, all the weather must have had some impact on the collecting surface -- a couple weeks and we'll get word. From what I've heard, March 7th is the kick-off weekend. My first shot at the mine isn't till April 11th, so I, as others, am trying to obtain earlier invites. I don't expect to have the time to make more than three trips down this season, so getting feedback from other collectors is more important then ever. Please drop me a line after a visit, we all benefit from shared knowledge.
- The Website. Although few new pages have been posted over the last couple months, many things have been going on behind the scene - the scope of the site is changing. Lee Creek will remain the primary focus, but the format will be changed to permit a broader content. The current website supports Lee Creek - ancillary information has been lumped in Selachian Topics.
The new format, which will slowly appear over the next few months, will address four subjects:
1 - Lee Creek,
As has been the case in the past, I can provide some of the content, but not all -- contributors are always welcome. I will prime the pump with a couple new web-pages heretofore not linked to the site -- Palaeocarcharodon, an artifical dentition & the Sacaco Great White Mako? an articulated dentition.
2 - (extant) Selachian Topics,
3 - (extant) Batoid Topics and
4 - General fossil elasmobranch topics.
Rick Martin has joined the team and will be contributing to Selachian Topics. Rick is very knowledgeable when it comes to sharks and related subjects. What makes him stand apart is his writing ability/style. Be sure to taste his offerings.
The other major change is that the site will be moving. Content has forced the site to be spread across two servers, both of which are almost maxed-out. A new home is required, so keep an eye out for the announcement (over shark-l, elasmo-l and vrtpaleo list-servers). It looks like the domain name will elasmo.com. I'll keep these pages up for a month, by April the conversion should be complete.
- Candace Holliday has contacted me to say that the Aurora Fossil Museum never recieved permission for a special Winter trip.
- Mike Everhart has added a great page on Cretoxyrhina mantelli to his Oceans of Kansas website. It's well worth the visit.
- Bill Heim is still adding pages to the Lee Creek website. If you haven't looked lately, these pages are the best source for information on Lee Creek (and other Miocene) shark teeth anywhere in the world. Just go to the Lee Creek Shark Species pages (non-carcharhinid or carcharhinid) and click on the color images.