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Hello - first post here. I've been lurking in the background reading lots and lots of your posts in the forum. Very informative, really enjoy looking at the pics of the fossils being found on the Peace river. I noticed in some of the pictures what appears to be rapids on the river - appears to be shallow water moving over rocks. Where on the river would these rapids be located? On the satellite images it looks like there may be some rapids 5.24 miles (following the river) or 4.2 as the crow flies - north of the Gardner ramp near Oak Creek. Has anyone made it that far north from Gardner and checked out the area for fossils? I'm trying to plan a trip and was thinking of using a canoe with a small outboard to travel from Gardner to Oak Creek. Is it possible to motor on the Peace river north of Gardner - or are there too many obstacles or shallow water? Thanks in advance for any information you can share - hope to see you on the river soon! G

There is a spot in the Peace, not far upstream of the Canoe Outpost, that yields relatively large quantities of the sand dollar shown in the photo below. I have these 2 relatively good examples and 3 more partials stuck together in a block. All are of nearly identical size. I had assumed Miocene based on the source, but the the publication from UF on "Pliocene and Pleistocene Echinoids" has the only sand dollars coming close. The closest matching in shape is Encope michelini, but the sample is twice the size of my examples. Anyone have experience with these?

Between work and home life 2018 wasn't much of a year to get out hunting for me. Outside of two short trips down to the Ramanessin I didn't really get out this year. Hoping to change that in 2019. To start I am working on a family vacation to Florida around March. The last time I was down there at that time of year I was able to do a day of creek hunting around Wauchula that netted a ton of small shark teeth including multiple mini megs as well as a slew of ice age mammal items. My favorite was a small glyptodon scute which was one of my personal bucket list items . I am looking for suggestions on areas I can start researching that would be in range of a day trip based out of the Orlando area. Call it a 2 hour radius of Orlando so I have time to hunt. Not looking for anyone's special hunting grounds, just general suggestions. Haven't looked to see who might still be offering guided trips these days as its been a few years since my last visit, but I am willing to entertain that option. I still have the books I gathered for my last trip so I will start with a refresher from those, but any advice would be appreciated

Found a bunch of Shark teeth today and other interesting bits. If possible, can anyone ID this spike? Catfish spike? Is the hole natural? And found a tiny vertabrae, can anyone tell what animal that may have been from? And I found what to me looks like an alligator tooth, but wrapped in a concretion or something? Or is that just a rock? Thanks for any help!

Hey everyone, I'd like to know what you think about this vertebra I found on the peace river last February. I know people find snake verts once in a while on the river and was wondering if this specimen had any traits that would determine its identity whether it be more general or specific. I know that not everyone knows the size reference when using American currency, the vert is 1.5 cm from the top of the process to the bottom and about .8 cm long at its longest point.

A friend showed me these today, bith found in the Peace River in the last week. He asked if I thought either was a canine? I decided to ask TFF for identifications. Fossil #1 Fossil #2 Thanks for all comments, suggestions, identifications.

I was browsing the Forum and came across an excellent (Jan 25, 2018) post by @GeschWhat listing some characteristics of coprolites. Unhappily, Lori did not provide illustrations. I want to quote her list later. I have here a few coprolites from different rivers, including the Peace River. I'll post some images, and let you judge how well these specimens fit Lori's list of characteristics. This one (two images) is from the Peace River: This one (two images) is from the Suwannee River, a bear-dog site: This one (two images) is from the Peace River: This one (two images) is from the Peace River: Report post I don't subscribe to the 'lick test,' and Lori has heard all of the scatological jokes by now, so let's get down to serious 'business.' Feel free to provide further illustration or commentary on the identification of coprolites.

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in trading trips to fossil collecting sites. I want to go hunt fossils in the Peace River next Feburary, in return I can provide a collecting trip to Sharktooth hill (or a bunch of STH fossils). Anyone interested?

Hey! Been a while since I've posted on here. Haven't really had a chance to go hunting as of late, but these have been sitting in my collection for a bit now unanswered. Quality might not be the best, because I currently have no access to my usual camera. All were found between Tampa and the Peace River down in Arcadia. Any ideas? I suspect the first might be a horse incisor but the others I'm clueless with.

Guys I want to propose an identification on the shell fragment below based on some research for which criticism is more than welcomed. Found in Hardee Co., Florida Peace River Formation, Bone Valley Member. First there are only two genera of thick shelled tortoises in the US (Oligocene to Pleistocene) which are Hesperotestudo and Caudochelys (Hulbert, Jr., 2001). The largest and one with thicker shell being Caudochelys crassiscutata. This species is known for having a very thick hypoplastron. The shell fragment bellow is robust, and weirdly thick compared to the other many fragments I have found in the Peace. So... Judgement time!

Last one of the night. Any idea guys? Or shall I change my name to paper weight?lol

I am just posting the thins I have no clue about. Here is another one. Resembled some marine mammal otoliths I saw online. But could be a Nothing Sp.

Here is another one I have no clue about. Any thoughts!?

Me again, Have a few to post but will do tonight, here is a curious one I found Hardee County last Sunday. Could it be lower jaw section of a Snapping Turtle? Please advise guys! Thanks Alex

Hi guys, Found this interesting mineralized fragment while on the Peace River un Sunday. Have no clue any input would be wellcomed!

1. Partial mammal tooth? (Peace River FL, Mio, Plio or Pleisto). Maybe a piece of horse. 2. Another partial mammal tooth (potentially odontocete? also Peace River FL). 3. Yet another piece of Mammal tooth (Peace River).

Back in February I went fossil hunting along the Peace River in spots between the towns of Wauchula and Arcadia. I found the usual shark teeth and dugong rib pieces along with a few porpoise and even barracuda teeth. However I would appreciate it if someone could help me identify a few of the other fossils I found. 1. Partial alligator tooth? or just a piece of bone. 2. Tusk or tooth fragment (strange pattern on the cross section. 3. Claw core from a bird or small mammal. 4. Partial glyptodont scute?

FF member @TyRex23 (Tyler) came down for a full week of hunting the Peace River and it's tributaries last week, so we met for 2 of those days to see what we could find. I don't have pictures of his take, so I hope when he gets organized he'll post some of his better finds. Before he came, I prospected a couple spots in the Zolfo Springs area to ensure he had a chance to get some mammal fossils before we went meg hunting. I thought I had a pretty decent couple spots picked out, but overall I didn't do well although I think Tyler got a couple things. Here's my disappointing take for the day.

Appears to be a bone fragment with air cells found in the Peace River. I was guessing skull fragment but would appreciate an expert opinion.

This is going out on a tangent but...Gardner is such a dump! It really ticks me off. I've been thinking about trying to round some people up for a general clean-up of a stretch of the Peace. Judging by quite a few of the people I've seen there, I wonder if it would be worth it. I know that it would , but I also know that Gardner would be back to normal the following week. Frustrating. If anyone else feels the same way and would like to try and start planning this...please let me know. I just realized that this should be a separate thread. Note to self... So...This started on a separate post and thread. I know that most, if not all of us, pick up trash and haul it back to our entry point at the end of the day. I also know that we all probably see more stuff that for one reason or another is inconvenient for us to pick up at the time. Well, what if that was all that we did for one day? What if we gathered in force and sent a crew by kayak/canoe down to Brownville Park from Gardner? Or another crew from Zolfo Springs down to Gardner...or (the worst), Brownville Park to SR70 ramp? That's a lot of people. Realistically, it would need to be split up into separate days unless we had sponsor help. I already feel like I'm in over my head. I know that it would take an entire platoon and an entire day to clean up the Gardner ramp area. It certainly seems like it would anyway. So, it's out there. I'm serious about doing this one way or another. But we all know that it's going to take more than just individuals picking up as they go. Clearly, a lot of people aren't pulling their weight. And a lot more just don't care. My name is Mike. We can use this thread to start getting together and take it from there.

I took a rather short trip to Zolfo Springs on the Peace River today to prospect for a trip with a guest on Tuesday. I dug in a nice deep limestone hole for a while and came up with this recent find, which I thought might be coyote, but doesn't match the scull that I have. Anyone have any guesses on what it might be? I'm figuring coyote and dog are out.

The last year or so I have gotten back into fossil hunting which I loved when I was young (45 now). With a 9 year old son that loves it too (I have even converted my wife a little!). We were invited to look for fossils in a small creek accessible by foot on 4-28-18. Less than a foot deep where we dug and sifted by hand and small garden shovel for about 4 hours. Mostly found a couple hundred small sharks teeth that we will donate to a science facility here that will put them in a sand box and let children find them at a class/event. An interesting bone that looks like a socket joint piece, and a few other things... Mostly Bulls and Lemons here Cool socket of some kind (hoping I don't find out its a chicken bone someone threw in the creek!) Tube worms or coral / sponge maybe..? 4-30-18 we made our first trip to the actual Peace River and rented a canoe at The Canoe Outpost for the day. I have read about fossil hunting there a little (a good bit from this forum) and knew to look for gravel bottom and that deeper banks could be best. We just paddled north about 1.5 - 2 miles and found a nice sandy bank on the inside of a bend to put the canoe on. As I waded out I could feel the rocks crunching under my feet and it seemed to go down about 12" so we set up and started digging/sifting (1/4" mesh). Found some nice 1" teeth in the first half hour and there were generally a small tooth or two mixed with some various sizes of turtle shell etc. on each screen. Never found a real gem on the trip but did get a nice gator tooth and a few other teeth including barracuda. Some interesting bones and shell fossils that I kept as well. When I dug down I got about 12" of mud and gravel, under that was a white clay like sediment that contained nothing. I have heard digging deeper can produce better finds, maybe next time I will prod for a deeper gravel bed. All in all for not knowing much of where to go it was a great day, and I surely can't be disappointed with some nice tiger shark teeth and the Gator tooth...Also found the largest sting ray plate I have seen so far. Just one more screen full I promise! This was close to The Canoe Outpost...(We did not dig here!) The ID section of the forum helped identify the far right tooth as barracuda and the second one as alligator. The better of the teeth. Also found a couple hundred more small ones to donate. Bivalves Not sure what this is, looks like piece of broken tooth coming out of a root..... Interesting bones. turtle shell pieces I believe Not sure about this either, maybe a skin plate of some kind. My wife claimed this turtle shell fragment for the peace sign.

Well this is really going to be a picture heavy, ID lacking, report on various areas that I visited on the way down and back from Sanibel Island, Florida.I just don't have the time to flesh this report out, but I wanted to show some of the "smalls" that I collected. When it comes to the shells from Florida, the pics are only a representative view of some of the different species that I collected, and I collected a lot. To be honest with you, I am finding the collecting of fossil shells more fun that any other fossils that I collect. My first stop, was one that I posted earlier, but will show the pic of my finds. Hogtown Creek- Gainesville, Florida Peace River- Arcadia, Florida Shell Pit Fill- Fort Meyers, Florida Area

Double pulley's right? What else could it be? Keep looking, I have a nice collection of astragalus bones from several species, none are ever close to this one. The size is the same as a horse. If it is all eroded away, I am sorry to bother you with it. It fools me into thinking it is in good shape, but there are almost no other articulations beside the pulleys. It looks to be scooped out with an ice cream scoop, then refinished! LOL ... Thanks for your opinion. The above image is the side opposite the "pulleys"

I had to look at this one twice. It seems to have a process sticking off the wrong side of the centrum at first glance. The pedicles and neural arch are missing, and the spinal canal location is evident. It has a pronounced triangular shape. This leads me to think I am looking at 1/2 of an Axis vertebra, but the shape seems all wrong for that too. What are we looking at here? 3.5 inches across. 2.5 inches deep