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We found these in the Willow Point formation of Wise County Texas. They are in Late Pennsylvanian, Canyon Group limestone found near Lake Bridgeport. My first thought was Girtycoelia sp., a sponge often found in the Jasper Creek formation from the same area but these were too large and not connected together either directly or by the tiny shafts as in Girtyocoelia sp. There are 4, or maybe 5 strings of 3 to 4 beads each and they didn't seem to align with each other. Fossils found nearby were mostly crinoids with a few fenestrate bryozoans. There were also slabs with oscillation ripples and a single Asterosoma impression. Finger for scale.

This came from the Jasper Creek formation, Bridgeport Shale, Missouri Series. Could it be a brittle star vert? I haven't seen them here before but I'm not sure what they might look like from the Pennsylvanian. Scale in millimeters.

Hi, here is a bunch of tiny beauties from Texas (Lake Bridgeport). If somebody can help ID the gastropods at 1:40 and a crinoid at 4:20, it would be much appreciated.

I often bulk sample a road cut at Lake Bridgeport, Texas after which I screen and wash the material and check it out at my leisure. This is a Jasper Creek Shale outcrop, which is Pennsylvanian. I have sometimes run across some small, broken pieces that tend to have a characteristic dual-hole pattern, but until now didn't pursue them. After finding a clump of them, pictures attached, it got me to checking them out, I have since found that they also have a characteristic shape, which you will find in a group picture. The dual-hole pattern can often be seen on both the front and the back as seen in the pictures named "scale front" and "scale back." Some still have a little detail showing bumps close to the edge. They look like fish scales to me, so I have named all of the pictures as scales. But, I could certainly be wrong. Any ideas? The scale hash marks are 1mm. Thanks for any help.

My birthday was last week and my wife surprised me having found and purchased a copy of the book the Pennsylvanian Fossils of North Texas. It's a great book but I have not been out in the field with it yet. I've dabbled in these fossils for about 20 years but I've never hit the better known areas such as Jacksboro, Lake Bridgeport or Mineral Wells. I plan on spending more time with these fossils moving forward. It may sound silly but near the top of my hunting want list is to find a nice trilobite or two. I'm curious to know if any of you have had any luck finding them at any of the better known areas and with what frequency they are found. I still like to find crinoids too. I'd love to find one that is still articulated. Most of the pennsylvanian fossils I find are small, well preserved and detailed. I'm sure that all varies with locality. Horn corals and molluscs certainly look nice in a shadowbox and they don't take up nearly the space that my ever growing mosasaur collection does. I've been reading the posts on here and I want to go see what I can turn up. I recently discovered an area in Montague county. I don't know how large of an area is exposed at this site. Any pointers or advice that will help me in search of my first trilobite would be appreciated. Any observations gained from your experience that will help me in my quest for pennsylvanian fossils esp around Lake Bridgeport, would very much be appreciated.

Can anyone give me directions of where to find fossils at Lake bridgeport?

I found these while going though some matrix from the FM2952/FM1658 intersection at Lake Bridgeport. The one I refer to as spines look a little like a thorn, but have a more fossil-like consistency when I crush them. The other two may or may not be related, but look so much alike that I put them in the same picture. Any ideas? And thanks in advance for the help. Gary

We had a big rain last week so I decided to go to a well known site in Runaway Bay to see what had been newly exposed. Found some nice examples of the normal stuff and then caught sight of something I thought at first was a piece of glittery, foily trash. On closer inspection, it turned out to be an otherwise normal reddish limonite nodule on the outside with beautiful fire on the inside. I used 2 cameras trying to get a photo of what I was seeing. The cellphone camera just would not show any color - that photo is just to show scale (that's a 24 oz coffee cup lid) and some of the other stuff I found out there. The other camera picked up some color but still doesn't do it justice. It was cold and I headed back to the truck when my boots weighed 12 lbs. The nodules of Lake Bridgeport never cease to surprise and delight. I've found them with all manner of interesting interiors, but I never expected to encounter the Schiller Effect on a hunt for Pennsylvanian fossils.