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Good morning! I have been puzzling over this piece of what I believe to be a type of rugose coral, a little over an inch across at its widest, 1.5 inches tall but a fragment of a whole. The closest thing I could find might be ketophyllum perhaps? It was found on the western edge of the Otisco Valley in central/western NY state, between Skaneateles and Otisco lakes. The layers if the area I am know of are is Ordovician/Silurian/Devonian, i am not certain as to its original bedding plane location as it was a post thunderstorm erosion find, all sorts of fresh material came down the gorge, but i think it came from above the “famous” layer of Staghorn coral that emerges on the east side of Skaneateles lake. It popped right out of the shale I split and is almost graphite in appearance, the "stump" nodes that look like broken off appendages and the vertical pattern (vs the typical horizontal growth bands in the common staghorn corals) make it very different from anything I have found in the area, it almost looks soft-bodied, realizing how unlikely that is. I love the detail in this piece, it looks like there may be preserved damage/healing that occurred in life but I may be reading too much into that thought. Additional angles attached, just quick ipad shots but they may be helpful. No visible septa on either end, nothing radial or even patterned, although it looks like there may have been an internal, central structure. Thank you! It may have come down from the Devonian Otisco Member of the Ludlowville Formations (Upper Hamilton Group)?
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