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Showing results for tags 'gastrolith'.
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A spontaneous trip to Mounds Reef...my wife said I should go.
SPrice posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Kinda late to start up a long post about my trip today...so I'll just say it started like this . A bit more snow that expected. Crossing the summit @ 7500 feet above sea level. Back in January there was much LESS snow than this. I was hoping the downhill side was nice and dry. It was...turned out to a beautiful day with 63 F degrees before a front blew in. And the trip ended like this...the juvenile raptor sculpture is about a meter tall and the adult is about 2 meters. Looks to be made of CNC cut 3/16ths or 1/4 inch mild steel. Probably waterjet cut. Pretty cool. The toe claw suggests it's a Utahraptor, but with a T-Rex head? Stay tuned...I'll fill in the trip tomorrow. -
Found this in Colorado where I live, it is brown, the top is smooth and feels polished. There are tiny cracks and holes. They are rough inside Wanted to know what it is, thought maybe a Gastrolith? It was found in a horse pasture laying on the ground. Any help would be appreciated!
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I’m struggling to identify this. The closest I’ve found is possibly a fossilized crayfish gastrolith. But I could be way off. I’m very new to fossil ID. I do find a lot of marine life fossils in my area. I had thought perhaps brachiopod, but it looks nothing like my other one. I’ve included a photo of the unidentified piece along side my brachiopod so if I have misidentified it please correct me. Thanks in advance. Details: Northeast Arkansas Mississippi Alluvial plain Along the Eastern edge of Crowley’s Ridge I’m 93% certain the material is quartz (chert)
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Very smooth, well rounded and unlike any other type of stone in the area. Found washed out from a river bank in Northern Alberta.
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So did some fossil hunting yesterday and found what I was told was a Crocodilian Gastrolith. Which while technically just a rock, is still a really cool find. So I wanted to see if anyone else could confirm the ID or not!
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Opalized yabby button(crayfish gastrolith)? ..or something else?
katherine1977 posted a topic in Fossil ID
This came in a parcel of opal from Lightning Ridge. I have cut the bottom and a little of the side to be able to see inside better. The smaller opalized top portion is 8x10mm, the bottom opalized portion is 12x10mm. I have been told this may be a yabby button, however I’m not sure because all the photos I’ve seen of yabby buttons don’t look a whole lot like this. I appreciate any feedback, and feel free to ask any questions:) thanks!- 15 replies
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Found in a small Yellowcat wash, outside Moab, UT while scouring for petrified wood. Not near a uranium mine. Partially exposed and nothing else like it around the area all day. The wash was in Morrison material. About 3” x 5”. Super shiny even without washing. Thanks!
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This is a gastrolith that has a mesh like fossil within it. Any Ideas of what the mesh/comb could be?
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Amateur alert: i am NOT a professional paleontologist; I am a semi retired therapist who happens to be a paleontology hobbyist. I've seen several things advertised as gastroliths, and the prices seem easily doable. But HOW in the world is a rock determined to be a gastrolith, and not just a smoothish-rock that's a bit worn? A rock that has been inside a prehistoric animal (not just dinosaurs, I'm guessing?) is WILDLY cool, but a smoothed and tumbled rock is not.
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I found this odd little pebble in the Lance fm. in Wyoming over the summer and have yet to post on the forum so I thought I'd do so tonight. Anywhere else I probably wouldn't have kept it, but since I found it in a dinosaur bearing formation I was thinking it had the potential to be a gastrolith as it's completely smooth and rounded along with being a different color than most of the surrounding sediment I found it in, possibly hinting at transportation from its origin. I'd like to know your thoughts as I think it would be really cool to have found a dinosaur gastrolith. It's also not a piece of rabbit or deer scatt as it's not squishable (trust me I've accidentally picked them up before out there).
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From the album: MY FOSSIL Collection - Dpaul7
Gastrolith Utah Jurassic Period (199.6 to 145.5 million years ago) A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stones, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths in some species are retained in the muscular gizzard and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. In other species the rocks are ingested and pass through the digestive system and are frequently replaced. The grain size depends upon the size of the animal and the gastrolith's role in digestion. Other species use gastroliths as ballast. Particles ranging in size from sand to cobbles have been documented. Some extinct animals such as sauropod dinosaurs appear to have used stones to grind tough plant matter. A rare example of this is the Early Cretaceous theropod Caudipteryx zoui from northeastern China, which was discovered with a series of small stones, interpreted as gastroliths, in the area of its skeleton that would have corresponded with its abdominal region. Aquatic animals, such as plesiosaurs, may have used them as ballast, to help balance themselves or to decrease their buoyancy, as crocodiles do.-
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From the album: MY FOSSIL Collection - Dpaul7
Gastrolith Utah Jurassic Period (199.6 to 145.5 million years ago) A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stones, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths in some species are retained in the muscular gizzard and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. In other species the rocks are ingested and pass through the digestive system and are frequently replaced. The grain size depends upon the size of the animal and the gastrolith's role in digestion. Other species use gastroliths as ballast. Particles ranging in size from sand to cobbles have been documented. Some extinct animals such as sauropod dinosaurs appear to have used stones to grind tough plant matter. A rare example of this is the Early Cretaceous theropod Caudipteryx zoui from northeastern China, which was discovered with a series of small stones, interpreted as gastroliths, in the area of its skeleton that would have corresponded with its abdominal region. Aquatic animals, such as plesiosaurs, may have used them as ballast, to help balance themselves or to decrease their buoyancy, as crocodiles do.-
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Hi all, I am interested in getting a gastrolith from the Cloverly Formation. It measures 2.2" by 1.2" As I understand though, the "typical" gastrolith comes from the Morrison Formation. Are Cloverly Formation ones common? I've read the various gastrolith threads here. This stone seem to fit the criteria of having certain smooth edges, and unevenly rough sections as well (the smoothness comes from rubbing against the dinosaurs stomach along with acid, rather than being evenly worn by water). Still, I would like your thoughts on this. Does it look like a genuine gastrolith? Thank you.
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Absolute EARLIEST gastrolith presence (Archosaur lineage)?
ErichPryde posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
First of all, hello to all of you on the Fossil forum- My name is Erik. newbie here, first post. Secondly, I'm exceptionally curious as to what organism in the fossil record has the first confirmed gastrolith (non-exolith) presence. I found and read through Fruitbat's research, and he had some very interesting articles about gastroliths, some of which I've seen, some of which I have not. I feel that Gastroliths are incredibly important to Archosaur evolution because they fulfill much the same role that differentiated teeth for thorough mastication do in mammals. Of course, proving that a differentiated tooth came from a synapsid is much, much easier than proving a gastrolith found outside of any skeletal remains (an exolith) came from an Archosaur. I'm sure many of you know most of this already... any information you can provide would be appreciated. -
How to discern a gastrolith from a worn pebble? Thanks John
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Hello All, I found this unique rock/fossil specimen at a local consignment store. It didn't have any information associated with it. I thought it may be a gastrolith imbedded in a coprolite due to the size and shape of the stone and the layering of the rock around it - but I may be way off. I live in northern Florida so it may have come from somewhere in this region. I would greatly appreciate your help identifying it! Weight: 170.4g or 6oz Size: 62mm by 50mm (Just bigger than a golf ball)