Search the Community

Greetings! I am not an experienced fossil collector and have no practical knowledge of the hobby. However, I am hoping someone can offer their opinions on what I have here. I believe it to be a Seahorse but cannot be certain. I confess total ignorance to the proper terminology to use here and apologize for any errors in advance. I found this rock on the shores of the Arctic Ocean in the town of Barrow, Alaska in the summer/fall of 2014. I lived and worked in Barrow that year and would spend my spare time walking the shores of the Arctic Ocean near my home. I found lots of bones and other interesting items during my walks. I spotted this rock on the shore and picked it up. It appeared to be a fossilized seahorse in the rock but that does not make sense as the seahorse is a tropical creature as I understand it and the Arctic Ocean in nothing even remotely similar to tropical. I assume that migrating whales could have transported the seahorse and deposited it in the Arctic Ocean. Please see the attached pictures. I have several other pictures but am limited to the max size of 3.95MB. I would appreciate any insights as to what exactly it is that I have here. Any information you may be able to provide would be greatly appreciated.

Is This a Giant Seahorse Fossil? Alex Kasp, Snopes, September 15, 2017 http://www.snopes.com/giant-fossil-seahorse/ http://www.snopes.com/category/facts/photos/ Also, it seems implausible that a person would find such a fossils on a corestone. A paper about real fossil seahorse can found in: Teske, P.R. and Beheregaray, L.B., 2009. Evolution of seahorses' upright posture was linked to Oligocene expansion of seagrass habitats. Biology letters, p.rsbl20090152. (Open Access) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2781918/ Yours, Paul H.