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While on a fishing hike along the coast of Alabama, I was walking on large rocks forming a jetties to the gulf. When I looked down I came across some crinoid/byrozoan fossils. I also came across this strange looking, fossilized structure. Sorry about the poor photography, but I was fishing and not set up to take any good photo's. These are two different findings, but similar in color/appearance, yet definitely fossilized. Any thoughts on what you guys think this could be would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Joe

Greetings Folks! While walking on rock Jetties on the Alabama Coast, I looked down and saw some Crinoids. So, of course, I quit fishing and started looking at rocks. I came across many Crinoid fossils (and impressions). And some coral type fossils, so I am confident that these rocks could hold multiple species. These were on large boulders lining an inlet to the gulf and I"m confident that they are not from South Alabama seashore. It was a drag that I could take anything with me but photographs. So the question is: One thing I found that looked interesting were these impressions into the rocks. I have no idea what It may be. Sorry about the low quality of the pictures. I was fishing at the time, and this was the best I could get with my phone. Any thoughts from you guys what this could be, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for any thoughts relative to these guys. Joe

While on a fishing hike along the coast of Alabama, I was walking on large rocks forming a jetties to the gulf. When I looked down I came across some crinoid.byrozoan fossils. I am trying to ascertain where these boulders came from as It will help me learn about these fossils. Do any of you have a clue where they could be from . I did post this question under "discussion" but didn't get a response relative to this question. These are large boulders lining an inlet and I"m confident that they are not from South Alabama seashore. Possibly if I could figure out where the boulders came from, It would help me figure out where/date of the fossils. So the question is: Where do you guys think these boulders came from? There large 3 to 5 foot boulders. They appear to be granite, but I'm no geologist". Thanks Joe

Greetings Folks! While walking on rock Jetties on the Alabama Coast, I looked down and saw some Crinoids. So, of course, I quit fishing and started looking at rocks. I came across many Crinoid fossils (and impressions) and what appears to be some fan/coral looking fossils. These are large boulders lining an inlet and I"m confident that they are not from South Alabama seashore. Possibly if I could figure out where the boulders came from, It would help me figure out where/date of the fossils. So the question is: Where do you guys think these boulders came from? There large 3 to 5 foot boulders. They appear to be granite, but I'm no geologist. And now, for some reason , This site won't let me down load some pictures, only this one, so that's not helpful. Otherwise, any thoughts from you guys would be appreciated. Thanks Joe

I have done some more research on the squalicorax that I posted about a few weeks ago. I ended up examining 886 teeth or fragments thereof. Of these, 79 showed a fossilization process in which the serrations (and sometimes the whole cusp) was covered with a white mineral. 48 were so worn that sometimes the serrations could barely be made out. 254 were too small or fragmented to be of any use (which does not preclude that they were of the same species as the rest). The remaining 632 all had the ornamentation that is so unusual. They can be found only on the labial side of the cusp (forgive my previous posts saying that they were on the lingual side...a stupid mistake on my part), and the majority are on the mesial edge of the cusp, although a smaller percentage have the ornamentationon the distal edge, and even fewer have them on both. . There are three types of ornamentation, the least common being a horizontal band below the top of the cusp. The second type consists of a small circular indentation, and can be found anywhere on the serration. The most common is a vertical triangle, with the apex of the triangle towards the top of the serration. I have no clue as to whether this is due to ontological heterodonty, sexual dimorphism, placement within the jaw, or something else. If anybody could check their S. falcatus examples (the closest that these teeth resemble), or any other Coniacian squalicorax, and see if this ornamentation is found beyond the fauna I am working on. I have corresponded with Mike Everhart (Oceans of Kansas), and this is new to him. All help will be greatly appreciated! I will post two pictures here, then two more immediately after. Thanks again! Randy