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Hi this is matt again the other day in the creek I found this strange fossil coral can anyone id it for me ? here are some photos

Found this sticking out of a creek bed. The smaller piece was directly under the larger one, but it doesn't appear to have broken off. It just has a similar structure. I can't figure out if it's wood, coral, tooth, horn, etc. We have a little of each around here (just north of Austin, TX) but mostly marine fossils. In 5 years I haven't come across one that looked like this though. Closest thing to the interior structure I've found is bison tooth. Any ideas?

Hello All, I was able to scrounge up a few hours of free time a couple of days ago. I decided to head towards the Bardstown Kentucky area to scout out a couple of spots I had on my list of possible collecting sites. The first 4 stops proved to be fossil barren. Feeling a little bummed I decided to get some lunch and regroup. After the quick bite to eat, I realized I was running out of time, but I figured I had enough for one more stop. I headed to a road cut that exposed Ordovician rock. More specifically the Drakes Formation. I'm not sure which Member of the Drakes Formation yet. Still working that out. It took a little longer than I anticipated to get to the road cut that exposed the formation, so I ended up with only 30-45 minutes of collecting time. After about 5 minutes of looking, I realized that my perseverance had paid off! I quickly collected what I could in the limited time that I had left to me. The site is definitely on my list now and I will be paying a visit again when I can stay longer. Below are some of my finds. Here are some in situ pics... A couple of nice brachiopods. I haven't had a chance to try and identify them yet, and I am not as good with brachs as I would like to be, so if anyone has a suggestion feel free to chime in. This little guy is hiding. Can you spot him? Sorry for the lack of scale ( I was in a hurry ) This colonial coral is about 6 inches across and not the largest that I found! (Favosites sp.) Possibly Foerstephyllum sp. Here are a few more pics after I got to the house... Here is the little guy that was hiding. Both valves were together. With a little clean up he should look nice. This one is nice, but very delicate as it has completely weathered out of the matrix. Another one of the nicer brachiopods that I picked up. It too had both valves. I picked up this hash plate. A lot of brachiopods, but there is also a layer of iron just below them. You can see it rusting a little in the top left of the photo. I'm fairly certain that this is a stromatoporoid. It is heavily crystalized and has a thin layer of matrix over the top, but I think with a little prep it will reveal its secrets. Last, but certainly not least, is a very large coral. Favosites sp. Foerestophyllum sp? It measures around 9 inches long x 7 inches wide x 5 inches thick.

Heyo! I had one more fossil I was looking to get an ID for and it looks to me like it might be a cross section of some kind of coral. It is rather faint so it might actually be nothing but I figured id give it a shot here as you guys are much better at ID than I am (until I catch up!) /\ Main pciture. /\ Here is a little closer showing the details. /\ Cross-section in case its needed. Thanks for help as usual, you guys are always great!! -Em

Heyo! Found on the river banks of Humber river in Toronto, Canada I came across this rock this weekend and I was not sure if it was anything special or just a peculiar shaped rock. After some hesitation I decided to pick it up just in case. It has a very distinct wave looking shape to it and the texture on the 'wavy' surface seems rather fossil-esque but I wasn't sure as the cross section doesn't seem to show much of anything. If I had to take a guess I would say its either a coral or maybe its an imprint of some-kind? Let me know what you think If its anything worth keeping or just random rocks: /\ These two pictures show the general shape and size of the piece. /\ These two pictures show the close-up texture on the surface of both sides. /\ This is the side/cross section. Thanks for the help! -Em

Hi all! I managed to go on 3 large fossil hunting trips this weekend and pulled in easily the BIGGEST haul so far with the most variety as well! The first two pictures were from Mimico creek and the rest were a mix of Humber river and a separate section of Mimico creek. I managed to pull in my second trilobite from the area so that was very exciting! Also pulled a bunch of stuff that I was not able to identify: /\ This was the haul from last Friday night /\ This is the trilobite I found!!! Very excited to have a second one - its been a while since the last one I found /\ This was the full haul for the weekend trip at Mimico and Humber /\ Some Orthoconic Nautiloids as usual. Although it seems that this isn't just the same species I usually find as some of the patterns were much smoother than what I usually find A couple decent looking Crinoid stalks /\ /\ Lots of different shells this time, with a nice range of lined shells as well as 'mussel' looking shells (don't know the scientific names for these ones yet - sorry :/) /\ A close-up of the real nicely defined deathbed of TONS of shells! Unfortunately the hammer I used for cracking bounced off this rock and mashed my thumb in so that wasn't very fun. But its healing up nicely so I'd say it was worth it haha /\ Variety different sizes of coral (if you guys could help me identify which type that would be sweet!) /\ These were the weird ones. I'm not even sure if these are even fossils but I figured I might as well take em just in case - better safe than sorry!! (I am posting these two in identification later!) I was very proud of this haul! Lots of diversity compared to the usual hunt which is nice because I'm kind of getting a little tired of the mountains of Nautiloids we have piling up in the collection Let me know what you guys think of these ones!!! -Em

The Pinal Geology Museum (pinalgeologymuseum.org) in Coolidge Arizona has a fossil collection that it would like to donate to a college, university, or museum. There are over 1000 specimens, they are all cataloged and each one has an index card. Most of the samples are small just a few inches in size with a few larger ones. There are mainly brachiopods and corals, but I have not looked carefully at the collection which is in storage. This collection was mader by a collector over a 70 year time period and it was donated to our museum by his family when he passed away. The whole collection would not need to be kept by the recipient, but it is hoped most could be with the collectors name attached to it in recognition of his efforts to put it together.

I have this coral and I *think* it came from a batch of material from the Bardstown locality in Kentucky. I think it's Ordovician. It is a ball shape and one side shows a lot more detail than the other. Does anyone know what species this is?

Hello! We came across these fossils during a family trip up to Sudbury when we noticed three white boulders in front of a gas station FILLED with a variety of fossils (not sure if originally from Sudbury or not). Anyways most were rather recognizable but these ones were a little different to us: Thanks in advance! Also I'm not too sure what kind of rock this might be (I'm guessing limestone to start), if someone knows I would be interested! -Em

I found this in some gravel they had poured to backfill a slope near the white river. My amateur guess is horn coral but I was hoping for a more educated opinion. Thanks Front side back side

Attached to a large Megastrophia brachiopd, this is one of the best Aulopora coral colony I have ever found. A before and after prep photo from 2014 - 7/2019.

This was from my Grandpa’s collection of ocean treasures. I think it is some sort of fossilized coral conglomeration, as I also see what looks like bits of shell. It weighs about two pounds. It also looks like a geode, but I always thought geodes were from the earth, not the sea. Any help you can give me would be appreciated!

After putting my fossils in vinegar to remove the limestone, I have found they are all diamond-like with great detail. I think it is quartz. Is this normal? This is mid-devonian coral. Thanks for your help!

First of all: The book about the Coniacian-Santonian corals of Rußbach-Gosau, Austria, by Löser et al. (2019) is printed. It can be ordered at: http://www.korallen-kreide.de/index.html Its a must-have for all people interested in fossil corals! And: The abridged English version is also ready for download there! And now to my first application of this important milestone work: During my searching and digging at point 36 west of Kalchberg, St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria, at 07/04/2019, I found also a piece of limestone with small, regular voids/holes/tubes. After cleaning at home, some axial ripping was visible in a few of the tubes. Good sign!! Could be another phaceloid coral colony! After cutting it was clear: It is!! And it is in some parts rather well preserved, the best specimen of this type so far. According to the work above, it seems to belong to the genus Procladocora. Four species of this genus are described for Rußbach-Gosau: P. gracilis, P. aff. exiguis, P. formosa, P. sp. In some corallites, septal insertion of 6 / 6 / 12 can be observed. The maximum outer diameter of the corallites is about 3 mm. This would place this specimen within the species P. gracilis. But the age is different and the occurrences are geographically about 200 km apart. So it is better to stick to Procladocora sp. Thanks for looking! Franz Bernhard

I found this fossil on a hiking trail near Eureka, Missouri. It was on top of a hill. There is a natural spring on the trail at the base of the hill. I think it is some kind of coral or sponge, but I can’t find any pictures that look exactly like this so I don’t know what it is. Any help you can give me is appreciated!

I've bought fossils, and I've found them myself! Here are some of my greatest finds in my collection!

Rare Heliophyllum Delicatum. This is coral found only in the thin Moscow formation and only in Upstate New York. Mid Devonian and still in its living condition!

rare heliophyllum delicatum fossil found in upstate NY. In living position and preserved nicely for being over 350 million years old!

I found some coral fossils on the Million Dollar Highway. I found some other cool fossils, but I couldn't pull them out of the rock...

Hi everyone this is matthew again today in the creek I found a neat coral fossil called syringopora retiformis here is a photo

I took my family across the river to Clarksville Indiana today to visit The Falls of the Ohio State Park. It was very hot with a high in the 90s, but we had a good time walking the Devonian fossil beds and visiting the Interpretive Center . The river was down enough to get onto the upper limestone beds, but the lower beds were still underwater. They are typically exposed during the months of September and October and occasionally in the summer when there is little rain (not this year!). The river is at 20 ft right now. The lower beds become dry around the 13.5 ft mark. Their official website has a page that monitors the river levels and tells you when certain areas and strata are exposed. I suggest checking that out before making the trip to visit the park. https://www.fallsoftheohio.org/current-ohio-river-conditions/ The Interpretive Center houses the main indoor exhibit, gift shop, a river viewing room, and bird/wildlife viewing room, along with friendly staff. The main exhibit has fossils and interactive areas for the kids. Not only are there fossil on display, but also sections regarding the Native Americans that lived in the area, the current wildlife, and information regarding the Lewis and Clark expedition. A piece of fossilized wood just outside of the center on the backside by the parking lot. It is roughly 4 feet in length and 2 feet wide. When you walk into the main foyer of the Interpretive Center this boulder is on display. It is about a meter across and half as thick. I don't want to spoil the trip for everyone so I'm just going to post some pictures of a few of my favorite pieces. I thought this was interesting. It's labeled as orange chert, which I assume it is, but it also has a horn coral right in the middle of it. A sampling of the fauna found in the fossil record here. There was also a small exhibit on mammoths as evidence of a few have been found in the surrounding area. Presumably crossing the Falls to get to the salt licks in Kentucky. This was a comparison of a mammoth and mastadon tooth. The interior exhibit is nice, but for me the best part of the Falls of the Ohio is outside. Its the fossil beds that you can walk on and explore. I've been here a few times and find something new each time I come. Remember folks, it's against the law to collect here. Leave the fossils alone for others to enjoy! No matter how tempting... . If you just have to collect something, the park usually has a couple of dump truck loads of material near the back of the parking lot that they allow you to search through. Seriously. Here are some of the fossils that me and the family found while walking around the fossil beds. A word of caution, if you want to get to certain areas there is some climbing that you must do. A lot of the strata has fissures or large boulders that must be climbed, or walked around to move farther down the coast. This is on the fossil beds themselves. You can stay higher on the slope and circumvent a lot of the really strenuous stuff, but the fossils are not as good the higher up you go. Here are a some of the more impressive horn coral that I found. They actually call these larger ones "tusk coral" because the are so large. I'm not certain what these coral are, but Siphonophrentis and Cystiphylloides are common here. I know a hand isn't the best for scale, but it's all I had at the time. lol From the tip of my index finger to where my thumb connects is just over 5 inches. Some mainly brachiopod hash plates. A large favosites. Crinoids Lace Bryozoan This was my favorite find. A large colonial coral. It is over a meter in diameter. What is commonly called a Pipe Organ Coral. Eridophyllum I think that is all for now. It was a great day of discovery and fun with the family. If you are in the area and have a couple of extra hours, I highly recommend you stop by and check out the sights for yourself. You won't be disappointed. Just remember to check the river water levels and be ready for a little exercise!

As usual I had the urge to go fossil hunting this weekend so I decided to take a trip to Arkona and have a relaxing day of surface collecting. It was calling for rain all week but turned out to be a nice day (aside from the brutal heat and swarming deer flies). Things were looking a little different this year. Spring hit this roadway to one of the pits pretty hard. Critters everywhere so you have to watch your step. There were loads of tiny toads that must have just grown up and left the water. Also found this poor strawberry plant struggling on top of a hill in poor soil but somehow managed to fruit And now for the fossils... I didn't have any luck finding the blastoid or crinoid I was after but I did take a few things home. Some corals Aulocystis ramosa, Platyaxum frondosum Favosites sp. A brach species I didnt have yet and a large Callipleura Nucleospira concinna, Callipleura nobilis An interesting bryozoan and a cluster of tube worms unknown bryozoan, Spirorbis sp. Gastropods Platyceras bucculentum, Naticonema lineata Possible arthropod trackway? And a new trilo species for me. Beaten up but I'll take it. The cephalon+partial thorax look like Basidechenella Pseudodechenella arkonensis. The pygidium looks like Crassiproetus crassimarginatus (top one was found last year).

Hi. I visited Wren's Nest, Dudley, UK last summer. Just wonder if the fossils shown in the photos were corals or sponges. They were not uncommon but both were possibly damaged by diggers who attempted to excavate them. My apology the subject was a bit out of focus. Thanks. KS

Hello gang, As promised this is where I will share specimens from my personal collection, my grandfather's collection, and the collection that was donated to the university I work for. The latter is interesting as it is literally boxes of rock and fossils, with no information and my university does not have a geology or paleontology department. I'll be updating it every so often. Enjoy! NOTE: Some of the donated items have old school "labels" on them. If you see initials or such that you recognize, please PM me, as I am doing my best to properly catalog them properly as part of my job!

Found this on my third trip to the Silica Shale in Paulding, OH today. Looks like some kind coral, except it’s basically a disk. I feel like I’ve seen something like it on the forum before but can’t remember.