Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'pearl'.
Found 20 results
-
I recently recovered this Cameleolopha bellaplicata valve from the Upper Cretaceous (Middle Turonian) Prionocyclus hyatti ammonite zone of the Carlile Shale here in New Mexico. I was initially delighted with its preservation and upon further inspection, noticed a feature on the inside of the valve... ...I thought it may be a blister pearl. I reached out to Dr. Spencer Lucas (New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science) to get his thoughts. His response was: "years ago, we found a Texigryphaea near Tucumcari with a similar pearl in it." Pleased with that response I turned to the interwebs for more information. V. Friedman and A. Hunt (2004) wrote and abstract on Fossil Pearls from the Upper Cretaceous of Texas in which they are reporting Cenomanian and Turonian occurrences...I plan to reach out to Adrian Hunt to get his thoughts on this specimen as well. I also found a paywalled paper on Fossil Pearl-growths written by R. Bullen Newton (1908) in the Journal of Molluscan Studies and have requested access to that literature. Then I turned to our Forum. @LanceH found a pearl in the Kamp Ranch Limestone... ...as did @Mikrogeophagus ... ... @Bobby Rico has a blister pearl specimen from the Norfolk Coast (UK)... ...and @rocket is working on some Campanian Ostrea semiplana pearls from Hannover, Germany. There are numerous threads here on the forum where fossil pearls are discussed. These conversations, along with some modern representation from interweb imagery... ...have led me down an unfamiliar path. My understanding is that these fossils are uncommon. And with all that said, I pose this question... ...is this a fossil blister pearl? I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for your time.
- 9 replies
-
- 5
-
-
- blister pearl
- cameleolopha
- (and 6 more)
-
.jpg.d8b014035145874ec8403dadafae3a2a.jpg)
From the album: Missouri Conulariids
Found this wonderful specimen on March 10th, 2024. After finding this specimen I decided to do some research on these jellyfish and found out that they can form calcium phosphate pearls oddly enough. As fate would have it the only specimen I own to have a visible pearl was my most recent find! If I had not read in a paper that these jellyfish can create pearls I would not have believed it, but as the saying goes seeing is believing! Size: Pearl: Paper which has the only other image I've seen of these pearls online:- 2 comments
-
- 3
-
-
- conularia
- conulariid pearl
- (and 7 more)
-
Location: Missouri Period: Pennsylvanian Formation: Iola Limestone (Muncie Creek Shale Member?) Hello once again and I have come up with an interesting find. I recently came across my 7th Conulariid while fossil hunting and decided it was time to do a deep dive on Google. I came across some information that Conulariids can have pearls, which If I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed it. I decided to look at that specific specimen more closely and to my surprise I may have found one of these Conu-Pearls. Here is an image from the paper: Babcock, L.E. (1990). Conulariid Pearls. pp. 68-71 IN: Evolutionary Paleobiology of Behavior and Coevolution. Elsevier Scientific Publishing, 725 pp. My Specimen: I have long suspected that my Conularrids were a part of the Genus Paraconularia but never nailed down the species. If anyone can confirm please let me know. The paper mentions that these pearls are made out of Calcium Phosphate and my specimen's possible "pearl(s)" are consistent with the color, shine, and appearance of the Chitin-Calcium-Phosphate shells of brachiopods I have found around the area and other localities. I think the pearl's color is distinct enough from the Conulariids exoskeleton, but I may be wrong. As these pearls form in layers, I assume the fragment on the image's left side to be the pearl's outer ring that somehow detached from the actual main pearl (on the right side). Ultimately I would like to hear other people's opinions as I don't want to be a "Conu-Liar". Also here is the size of the Conulariid along with another, albeit Crushed specimen. I, unfortunately, do not have the rest of my Conulariids on me as I was back in the area for spring break and left my main collection at my apartment. I will be able to look at the rest of the Conulariids next week, and under a lower-power microscope instead of a hand lens. Edit: I forgot to add an image of the "Pearl" on its side.
.thumb.jpg.fafc4d8d818cc96527358671a24055a2.jpg)
-
- 2
-
-
- conularid
- conulariid
- (and 6 more)
-
My first time posting here. Just found this unusual piece after a big storm and extremely high tide in Cape Canaveral, FL. Has several holes, two larger ones connect. Smaller pin size holes on bottom are not very deep. Also has a small curled up end, similar to a tail. I thought it was ivory, but it is such an odd shape. Maybe a natural pearl?
.thumb.jpg.92ca415cba8aab62ab54c8652be04ba4.jpg)
-
Hello, I'm new to here and I have a few questions about something I found at least 15 years ago. I found it in middle America, if memory serves, in a rock garden outside of a building somewhere. It seems to be sediment of the inside of an oyster or a mussel? I don't have an eye for this. In any case, I've taken a few photos of it showing it's shape and size. There is mother of pearl still stuck to it as well as what I believe to be it's old muscle or flesh of some kind that's been fossilized, excuse me if my terminology isn't correct. It's pinkish(colorblind) and is fibrous and what I believe might be a small amethyst stuck in the sediment. My questions are, what is it and if it's possible that there's something in the sediment. Like a pearl or something. I'd rather not break it open in case there isn't anything. I figured that people who are more interested and more knowledgeable than I am could know something about it or lead me to someone who might. Thank you and I appreciate your time! :)
-
.JPG.d268e05ca721e8c364fcd6e56410175a.JPG)
From the album: Eagle Ford Group
Inoceramid Pearl, DFW Turonian, Cretaceous Apr, 2023-
- 3
-
-
-
- inoceramid pearl
- kamp ranch
- (and 2 more)
-
Just to show: it is possible to find fossil pearls. This three come from the campanian of Hannover. They are found in a layer together with a lot of Oysters, all Ostrea semiplana So, when you find Oysters in a bed, look for small balls, might be a pearl This ones are right for a paper we write, will be published end of the years. If someone has pearls from upper cretaceous, let me know, perhaps we can add it not necessary to be campanian age, but upper cretaceous or tertiary, please
- 8 replies
-
- 8
-
-
-
- campanian
- cretaceous
- (and 2 more)
-
I finally found a fossil pearl. It's from the Kamp Ranch limestone. It's almost perfectly round with milky inclusions.
- 6 replies
-
- 6
-
-
-
- kamp ranch
- pearl
- (and 1 more)
-
My friend found this in a creek bottom here in central Iowa. He thinks it might be a petrified pearl inside a half oyester. Any thoughts? Maybe the muscle?
-
Petrified Oyster With Crystalized Pearl Split In Half I Found The Bigger Piece
2oun posted a topic in Fossil ID
•Petrified Oyster With Crystalized Pearl• Found Santa Fe Trail Kansas City Missouri, Fossil Oyster Blister Pearl, What's it Called Proper? Info?
-
Not sure what this is. I found it in the Texas hill country Blanco river. Its approximately 1 1/8 round. Can anybody help identify. Thank you.
-
I think it is a fossil pearl. It was found in a shell fragment in Post-Oak Creek texas, but I am not sure as it is the first I have found. If it is a fossil pearl how do fossil pearls relate to common pearls
-
I found this oyster fossil in a creek bed on a walk with my son in Austin, Texas sometime in May 2020. I believe it was in a Quaternary geologic formation. I’ve collected a number of these, but never with a pearl. Just curious if anyone else has seen one!
-
Greeting! I found this Pycnodonte yesterday in Monmouth County NJ (Cretaceous) with this strange growth on it (the bump). I compared it to about two dozen of my other Pycnodontes' and did not see anything similar so I was wondering if this was their version of a pearl or if it something else. As always, all help is greatly appreciated! -Frank
-
Found this and wish it was a mystical ancient pearl, bet it is not. Any ideas? Thanks!
-
I would love to know what's in this oyster shell? Black pearl?
-
Hey Gang, So yesterday I was going thru some Plio-Pleistocene shell bed debris in Sarasota Cnty, Florida and I ran across this tiny unknown. I was looking for darker items that stand out on the white sand/shell fragments, picking up very tiny shark teeth fragments and other small phosphatic pebbles and other small black unknowns. Its all of .5cm across, an irregular sphere shape, has small inconsistent pitting/dimpling over most of its surface. Note: I could have caused some of the pitting as I dropped it during cleaning on the concrete flr in my garage and it bounced around like a superball and ricocheted all over creation and somehow I still managed to find it). It also has a small distinct irregular depression on one side which you can see in the last photo. I thought maybe pearl but I just dont know anything about them and it seemed unlikely so maybe its even a manmade something or simply a really worn phosphate pebble. It has that deep black/dark gray color of dugong/whale bone--could it be a rounded polished bone fragment? The irregular pattern of the small dents/pitting is intriguing. Any thoughts are appreciated. Regards, Chris
-
Mahantango/ Juniata 1 - Pearly Shells - Preserved Shell Material
hitekmastr posted a topic in Fossil ID
This is the first in a series of fossils from our Sept. 16 trip to an exposed 380 million year old Devonian site in the Mahantango Formation in Juniata County, PA (we'll do a trip report in the coming week or so). Most of our samples raised ID questions that we hope some of our friends and colleagues can help answer. The first two samples are what I call "pearly shells." This raises the issue of what can be learned from original shell material that is preserved? These first two samples are shells that have quite a bit of the original shell (white color) attached. Pearly Shell 1 - The best ID I can find online suggests that this is a brachiopod called Devonochonetes. The white shell is especially clear and well preserved. Pearly Shell 2 - Squalicorax identifies this as Tropidoleptus and I included a link to a paper that I found on this species. The shell on this specimen is much more "pearly white" than the photographs suggest - the color is actually bright, pearly white and the lighting/camera angle distorted the colors a bit. The shell is shiny and gleaming with a pearlescent quality and much whiter than it looks in the pictures. This shell bears some faint markings that may indicate the original pattern. Sometimes (but rarely of course) the original patterns show up in the fossil, or the original unmineralized shell material is preserved, which makes fossil shell collecting especially interesting. Here is some additional information on fossil shells that I recently found: There are two broad types of fossils - ones composed of the actual material the original creature was composed of, and ones where the original material has been replaced by some mineral after the original material completely decayed or dissolved (technically a "fossil" is the remains of an organism at least 10,000 years old. Some fossil shells are actual shells, even with the delicate aragonite material intact. Plain aragonite is chalky (think of the exterior of a clam shell). In a complex arrangement with calcite and protein (called nacre), aragonite takes on the mother-of-pearl appearance seen on the inside of mollusk shells. Aragonite is unstable over geologic time and inverts to calcite. [source: Various websites including: "Fossil Preservation" - http://www.csus.edu/indiv/k/kusnickj/Geology105/pres.html]
-
Well, I don't know about it being worth thousands of pounds. Depends on what it might have mineralized to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2178655/150-million-year-old-oyster-times-normal-size-probably-contains-worlds-biggest-pearl--wants-open-out.html
.jpg.d8b014035145874ec8403dadafae3a2a.jpg)
.jpg.7cbbf42939a5ea8d2d8b70d3833f6115.jpg)
.jpg.f75c62982c78536712b64f318b52421c.jpg)
.thumb.JPG.3a1778fd4fed4623e03d62617112cc00.JPG)
.JPG.d268e05ca721e8c364fcd6e56410175a.JPG)
.jpg.b5363d5f96b7b33d4512f9b3832b73d5.jpg)
