NJ Cretaceous Coral

[The Jersey Devil]

Hello everyone,

I got a question about the ID of this coral. I brought it to Ralph Johnson and he said that it is either a coral or belemnite, but when I was consolidating it, I realized that it is porous, which is very much like a coral and unlike a belemnite.

The specimen consists of two pieces and is about 5/8” long.

Has anyone seen a coral like this?

 

@non-remanié @Plax @Al Dente @MarcoSr @siteseer @frankh8147 

 

Thanks,

Joseph

 

 

[Fossildude19]

Looks more like a bryozoan, to me. 

[Rockwood]

13 minutes ago, The Jersey Devil said:

Has anyone seen a coral like this?

Coral, no, bryozoan, maybe.

[The Jersey Devil]

30 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Looks more like a bryozoan, to me. 

 

30 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Coral, no, bryozoan, maybe.

Hmm. Haven’t considered bryozoan for this one. Still don’t know how to distinguish the two.

[Thecosmilia Trichitoma]

It could be a Belemnite that was encrusted with bryozoans when it died.

[Rockwood]

10 minutes ago, Thecosmilia Trichitoma said:

It could be a Belemnite that was encrusted with bryozoans when it died.

That would reconcile the shape with the external appearance, but you would need to define the boundary between the two in cross section. And that I don't see.

[The Jersey Devil]

Yeah, the whole thing is composed of bryozoan, no encrustment

[Al Dente]

I see quartz grains around it, are there grains inside too? If so, I would say it is some type of concretion and not a fossil.

[The Jersey Devil]

26 minutes ago, Al Dente said:

I see quartz grains around it, are there grains inside too? If so, I would say it is some type of concretion and not a fossil.

There are no grains inside. It seems like the specimen is inside of a concretion.

[siteseer]

I don't know what that is.

[Plax]

I am in the belemnite camp. It could be my imagination but it looks like there's radial symmetry in cross section. I've seen rotten belemnites like this in the orange sand layer at or near the top of some sections at Big Brook. Sometimes they are just holes in the rock and other times a bit of the structure is represented. At a spot in Gloucester County the missing belemnite is replaced with vivianite.

  If it's sand through and through none of the above applies.

[Rockwood]

Rotten belemnites sounds like a viable missing link to me.

[The Jersey Devil]

Yeah it has radial symmetry I should’ve mentioned that.

But don’t bryozoans have that symmetry as well?

 

3 hours ago, Plax said:

 

  If it's sand through and through none of the above applies.

What do you mean by that?

[Rockwood]

22 hours ago, The Jersey Devil said:

It seems like the specimen is inside of a concretion.

I'm thinking the concretion may be in the specimen. 

Sometimes the key is to find something like it but not as far gone.

[Plax]

39 minutes ago, The Jersey Devil said:

Yeah it has radial symmetry I should’ve mentioned that.

But don’t bryozoans have that symmetry as well?

 

What do you mean by that?

If it has radial symmetry it isn't just sand filled which is what I meant by "through and through". If you look at the broken end of a belemnite you'll see radial symmetry. Imagine that sorta fibrous crystalline structure partially dissolved away and then leached and weathered within rust colored sand. The sand would still cling to the belemnite and indeed sand in the Mount Laurel/Navesink makes a mold for a belemnite when it is completely leached away.

[Peto Lithos]

Could it be some form of bog iron? It looks almost as though it is made of iron oxide rather than a calcite belemnite.

[The Jersey Devil]

44 minutes ago, Plax said:

If it has radial symmetry it isn't just sand filled which is what I meant by "through and through". If you look at the broken end of a belemnite you'll see radial symmetry. Imagine that sorta fibrous crystalline structure partially dissolved away and then leached and weathered within rust colored sand. The sand would still cling to the belemnite and indeed sand in the Mount Laurel/Navesink makes a mold for a belemnite when it is completely leached away.

Interesting. So you’re saying it’s kind of a belemnite “steinkern”?

[Rockwood]

I think hybrid body/mold fossil would describe it better.

[HansTheLoser]

Larger view would help greatly.