CHALLENGE

[Steve O'Shea]

Anyone (other than TTF and Phil) want to guess what the attached image is? Yes, it's from a cephalopod, but that's the only clue.

I've deliberately textured the image (bricks) - sorry everyone, but this one is embargoed.

Me

 

[cthulhu77]

Oh please ! Anyone can tell that that is the textured mouth roof of a Sphynx grandis...jeez !
(yeah right...nice pic, but what the h is it?)

 

[WhiteKiboko]

its obvious that theyre the initial stage of an octoparrot's feathers....


hmm... i dunno... maybe some type of velcro type appendages on or around the suckers used for a better grip?

 

[thom]

Well, they look like dermal denticles of sharks, so i searched for dentacles on tonmo, and the answer is on this very site i believe

Richard Ellis' review of "the BEAST" mentions microscopic denticles on the tongue of an Architeuthis...

is this the answer?

Cheers,

Thomas.

 

[Steve O'Shea]

This is the kind of answer I was expecting (and what others may-well have assumed in the fossil record also), but it's not the right answer.

Exactly what is a radula?
What exactly is a 'denticle'?
What is the tongue of an Architeuthis (or any mollusc)?

No, these are not radular [adj.] structures, and not associated with the 'toungue'. but you're warm.

It's pretty sensational stuff!

 

[Clem]

Hi Steve,

Are they esophageal teeth?



Clem

 

[spartacus]

Easy, it's an archichoke

 

[cthulhu77]

Well, if that is an artichoke, where is the drawn garlic butter? Jeez.

 

[Fujisawas Sake]

Is it the nacreous layer of a nautilus shell? :P



"He thought: Very well. I am now a man with no food, with two less fingers and one less toe than I was born with; I am a gunslinger with shells which may not fire; I am sickening from a monster's bite and have no medicine; I have a day's water if I'm lucky; I may be able to walk perhaps a dozen miles if I press myself to the last extremity. I am, in short, a man on the edge of everything."

- Roland Deschain, Last in the line of Arthur Eld
From The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Are they esophageal teeth?

Warmer

Afraid it's no artichoke!!!

John ... cough .... worried about you dude!

 

[cthulhu77]

You haven't forgotten the face of your father John !

I did see a photo of a similar looking structure, but as was mentioned before, it was a skin surface from a shark...

 

[tonmo]

Hmmm, tongue was my only guess, same reference as Thom's (Richard Ellis book)... but I've got nothing else; I'm stumped... wonder what species this is... (request for hint fully embedded)

 

[Architeuthoceras]

Usually only hard parts of animals are fossilized.

Cephalopod Hard Parts:

1. External Chambered Shell
2. Internal Gladius/Pen/Rostrum
3. Aptychus (Jaws, Beak, Opercullum)
4. Radular Elements
5. Tentacle hooks/Sucker Rings
6. Statoliths

I'll choose tentacle hooks just to choose something

Unless someone can add something to the list

 

[Jean]

hmmmmm inner portion of the Buccal mass where the wings of the beak attach????????????????????????????? Guessing here!


J

 

[Burstsovenergy24]

I'll choose tentacle hooks just to choose something

Thats exactly what I was gonna say! 8)