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I found the below sample on Monmouth Beach near Lyme Regis and I am unsure if it is a fossil or simply beef limestone. The beef limestone is from fibrous calcite layers within a shale (known as shales with beef). For those that are not familiar with the area the local geology consists of marine limestones, shales and mudstones of Jurassic age which are highly fossiliferous.

Apologies for lack of a scale, it is 3 cm high and 2 cm wide, rounded like a tooth with a prominent rim around the base. Part of the back of the sample is flat as though it has been broken.

"Front" view

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"Rear" view

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Thanks for looking and please let me know if you would like any further information.

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm not an expert paleo guy, but I think that a simple test would try to dissolve it in vinegar. If it dissolves, then it's limestone. If it's a tooth, it will not (because it's apatite). I might be wrong though. $\endgroup$
    – Gimelist
    Aug 21, 2015 at 1:05

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Looks like cone from cone in cone limestone, a uncommon texture of limestone rock. It is most likely not a fossil.

I have found very similar pieces here in Ohio that are Cambrian age.

An accurate description of cone in cone limestone can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone-in-cone_structures

Also, I have found a number of fossil teeth from fish, sharks and mammals over the years and teeth are most often not the same color as the rock they are found in.

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