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I went fossil hunting yesterday. It is an activity that brings a smile and renews my soul. Sometimes I like the solitude of hunting alone ( my 1st 18 months I only hunted alone), but this day I was blessed with good friends and I could tell stories, share their cut up fruit and trail mix, and marvel on what we were finding. These are mostly my treasures.. None of us found large quantities, I had less than 50 fossils in my collection bag... but what we did find was unique and/or had some quality aspects... A tiger , 32 mm across the root. A Dusky or Bull, never sure which A fishjaw and a Tree root.... and below, a rare find for me ... note it tried to break,. it will not get the chance again A dolphin tooth found late... not one that I could name. Friends also found a Dolphin tooth earlier, Slightly larger. When this rolled into my sieve, I knew it was familiar, I rolled it over and over, but I was not expecting it , could not ID. My friends did. Menippe was a Genus of Stone crabs back in the Florida Pliocene. I wonder if this was a late arrival. I liked the quality of the fossils... look at the details of this crab claw... I was picking up a bunch of (broken) bones that I only slightly recognize with the intention of posting some of them but maybe in future posts. I do have a femur that I am curious about... I always search TFF for helpful threads: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/102805-peace-river-femur/ It has this comparison photo.... For comparisons, I possess a SaberCat femur at 13 inches if complete. Here's the key: 1-Horse femur, 2-Sabertooth Cat femur, 3-Human Adult Female Femur, 4-Komodo Femur, 5-Harpy Eagle Femur, 6-Kiwi Femur, 7-Platypus Femur, 8-Spider Monkey Femur, 9-Rhesus Macaque Femur, 10-Vervet femur, 11-Goliath Frog Femur, 12-Flying Lemur Femur. The bone seems not sufficiently robust for tapir, horse, llama, cow,, so maybe deer, coyote, bobcat.... Here is a mule deer for comparison. I think total length of Mule deer femur would be 11-12 inches. Any suggestions will be followed... Thanks for reading...

Finally got my compressor and air scribe set up, and am now getting to work on the concretions I gathered over the summer and fall. Just to see if I could do it, I took a crack at the smallest one I knew had a crab in it, at barely more than 3 cm wide. My friend lent me a scribe with a smaller bit than the one I bought 3 months ago, and it handled itself pretty well here. Did ding the carapace a handfull of times, but pleased with the outcome of this first crab venture. Prepping one this small was stressfull, so I'm looking forward to working on larger ones that don't demand as much precision.

Don't think it matters but this is a Cretateous crab, don't think I've ever seen a crab that wasn't in what I'm assuming is a moulting position so curious what's going on with this little guy. Was it maybe dead and floating or perhaps trapped in the sediment and struggling to get out?

I started prepping this crab I purchased when I was in New Zealand. I am relatively new to prepping so not sure how much more to do. I cleaned up the crab and revealed a little bit more of it so far. Not exactly sure how much more is hiding under the matrix

A few months ago, I came across this big crab concretion sticking out of the sand. It was my second largest of the day, but only by a mere 10kg! Still! 12kg aint too bad. Where I found it, was quite sandy, and another fossil hunter had been there before me, but fortunately he hugged the cliff face, there and back. I walked towards the ocean and spied some legs sticking out of the sand! I started this prep with my ZOIC chicago and rounded chisel tip. It removed 2kg of rock in two hours. Not the fastest, but it beats my old dremel by a long shot!

This piece is supposedly a horseshoe crab ( Mesolimulus walchii) from the Solnhofen limestone of Germany. It is Jurassic and the description says there has only been mild color enhancement. Is this fossil real? Any fabrication? Thanks for the answers!

I had a couple hours to kill so I took a trip to Calvert Cliffs today. It is really picked over by this time of year. I found 7 ray plates, 3 small shark teeth(2 are broken), 3 crab claw tips, and some misc bone frags. I also brought back some matrix to go through and grabbed a little clay too. Does anyone one of breaking down the clay ever produces anything?

Hi, not sure if right place to post but really stumped by this.

I found what I think might be a fossilized crab, though it might also be a rock combined with my imagination. If it’s anything else, I’m interested in that too, whatever it ACTUALLY is! Thanks in advance to the pros and more experienced hunters who can help! I have thick skin and a sense of humor, so don’t worry about offending me. I’m about 10 months into this hobby so I have a lot to learn! Found a few miles south of Benbrook lake near Fort Worth TX.

id? found this at a beach in Ontario near ny has the hallmarks of a crab fossil but I don't know if it is

What is the best way to prep crabs from the London clay? Would an ultrasonic cleaner work?

Just finished another New Zealand crab concretion. Only a few more dozen to go. Woooooooop,,,wooooooop RB

Crab fossil from warden point, Sheppey, England. Wondering what species of crab this is?

Wondering if anyone could help get species identification for these 4 fossils. Thanks for reading

A couple days ago I embarked on an adventure to a site I was never expecting to visit. The setting was a family vacation to the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Oahu and I initially had no intention of crawling around in gravel bars as I so often do at home. Nevertheless one thing led to another and I ended up going on a hunt that was perhaps the most unforgettable outing of my fossil career and I came away with some amazing specimens impossible to find anywhere else. Maui Our trip started on the lesser populated island of Maui which is a bit younger than its sibling Oahu. The landmass can be described as a valley where two large volcanoes form the east and west edges. The Hawaiian islands get older as you travel westward and this trend is true for Maui. The western half of the island is about 1.3 million years old whereas the eastern is only about 0.75 million. To my knowledge, there isn't any fossil bearing strata on the shores, but that doesn't mean a fossil hunter will be left with nothing to do on their visit. Snorkeling was my main activity throughout the trip. Of course there are tons of interesting sea creatures to admire on the visit, but I think my recent fossil interests have given me an extra sense of appreciation for the ocean life. I don't have any underwater equipment, so there's sadly no photos from beneath the waves, but I captured some neat stuff from out of the water. Horn-eyed Ghost Crab catching a wave (Ocypode ceratophthalmus) Little green crab washed out of the water Had no idea what this was at first (between starfish or urchin). Turned out to be a helmet urchin which is adapted for attaching strongly to rocky surfaces. Colobocentrotus atratus I was surprised to find that the beach sand contained millions of tiny urchin spines mostly from the rock boring urchins living just beneath the waves. I didn't take any home, but occasionally a large red spine from a pencil slate urchin would wash up as well. Rock boring urchin spines Most of the beaches on Maui weren't all that great for combing. It wasn't until I took a closer look in the waters that I finally came across a spot with gravelly deposits. As I snorkeled it was impossible to keep my eyes away from them and I kept hallucinating various fossils showing up. Eventually, one hallucination actually proved to be the real deal, so I held my breath and dove down a few meters to retrieve what I had spotted. Echinometra mathaei While technically not a fossil, these recently-deceased oblong urchins were too cool to leave alone. They belong to the species Echinometra mathaei which is the most common urchin in Hawaii. When it comes to fossils, understanding the original animal's behavior is a difficult task. In this instance, it's actually very easy as the living counterparts are literally all over the place. They are a burrowing urchin that use their spines and teeth to carve out rocky holes for hiding during the day. At night they leave to graze on algae. Makes me wonder what sort of neat behaviors are hidden amongst our local Cretaceous urchins here in Texas . Besides urchins, I also came across some beautiful Hawaiian Snakehead Cowries (Monetaria caputophidii) as well as one Granulated Cowry (Nucleolaria granulata). Both of which are endemic to Hawaii. Monetaria caputophidii Nucleolaria granulata That about sums up the Maui finds. This pushed me to do a little research on fossils in Hawaii and I was surprised to find on FF that Oahu was actually known to possess some Pleistocene reef. @hemipristis has a lot of great stuff on the island! I saw him mention finding teeth on one of Oahu's coasts in the Waimanalo Fm. I did a little satellite searching on that particular coast and found 3 potential spots to later check out. Oahu For those interested in the geology, the Waimanalo Formation is Pleistocene-aged limestone resting atop basalt at various points around the island. While the island is 3-4 million years in age, the Waimanalo Formation is only about 130 thousand. This age is significant because it aligns with the latest interglacial period known as the Eemian or Sangamonian Stage. Despite being nestled within glacial periods, this point in time was actually quite warm and sea levels were accordingly raised. The ocean was about 8 meters higher compared to today. It's fascinating to observe fossils from such a unique time period. Of the three potential sites, I was only able to find access to two. Of the two, one site was a bust and had no sign of the Waimanalo being completely volcanic. Thankfully, I found one amazing site. I made a brief initial visit where I hunted mostly the exposure itself. The finds were only invertebrate in nature consisting of gastropods, bivalves, and crab claws. These were cool, but they didn't meet my highest goal of finding a Hawaiian shark tooth. My family was waiting on me, so I didn't get the chance to browse the gravel talus underneath. On the last day of the trip, after some begging and various concessions, I was granted just one hour to hunt which I gladly took. I sprinted out to the site so as to not waste any time. It was hot and humid. The black lava rocks absorbed a lot of the heat and were uncomfortable to navigate, but that didn't dissuade me. In all the gravel there had to be at least one shark tooth. The first vertebrate find turned out to be bony fish. I've never found one of these before, but I've seen similar stuff across the web from around the world. These are usually referred to as pufferfish mouth plates, but they are actually from the family Diodontidae or porcupinefish/burrfish. This particular specimen was burnt orange and possessed partial jaw elements as well as fossilized worms tubes on its surface. I was leaping up and down! After reading more on the topic, it seems that this belongs to the genus Chilomycterus and perhaps the species C. reticularus commonly known as the Spotfin Burrfish (the only Chilomycterus species found in Hawaii today). Chilomycterus reticulatus jaw fragment Not too long after I found a couple more mouth plates, but this time not from a burrfish. Whereas burrfish (Chilomycterus) only have about 1-4 sheets exposed on their crushing dentition, porcupinefish (Diodon) have much more at 10-18 according to a conversation I found on ResearchGate. In Hawaii, the genus Diodon is represented by two species: the larger D. hystrix and smaller D. halocanthus. It's difficult for me to make a distinction between the two species, so I'll just have to stick with Diodon sp. for now. The first porcupinefish specimen was only a large broken half. The second specimen, however, is quite a beauty and one of my favorite fossils of all time! Diodon sp. in original matrix with volcanic inclusions This piece is about as Hawaiian as a fossil can get. The ancient reef bed the mouth plate is preserved in also features numerous small volcanic inclusions. After some time collecting the gastropods not already picked up from the prior visit, I stumbled upon what I had been dreaming of the entirety of my visit. Sitting plainly atop the rubble was a tan shark tooth in nice condition. I tried to milk the moment a little, picking it up slowly and soaking in every second. I was at a total loss for words and more or less silently slipped it into my pouch. It is likely from the species Carcharhinus melanopterus also known as the Blacktip Reef Shark and the most common shark in Hawaii today. I suppose there are many other Carcharhinus species present in the area, but I think Blacktip is the most likely. Before this tooth, my youngest shark was from the Eocene strata at the Whiskey Bridge. This was quite the temporal extension to my collection . Carcharhinus melanopterus At the very end of the hunt, I picked up a fragment of a shark tooth with fine serrations. I think it is likely also Carcharhinus melanopterus, but it's hard to say. Its size is very small. Carcharhinus melanopterus? So that about wraps up this unforgettable hunt! It's crazy to think that the second state I'd ever find a fossil on wasn't some place like Oklahoma. It's a surreal feeling to look at these various finds and imagine their lives 5 timezones away and 130 thousand years into the past. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this post almost as much as I enjoyed writing it! Here's the overview of the rest of the finds from Oahu: The species are based off of what I can find from modern Hawaiian waters Various crab bits Tellinella crucigera Quidnipagus palatam Unknown bivalve Ctena bella Unknown Monoplex nicobaricus? Cypraea sp. Nerita picea Peristernia sp.? Conus aff. spiceri Canarium sp.? Canarium sp.? Littoraria sp. Amplustrum amplustre? (Look up "Bubble snail") Morula lepida Ceritherium sp. Drupa aperta Cellana sp. Unknown Thanks for reading! Monachus schauinslandi