Found Fossil

[MJordan4382]

I am new to the Fossil Forum! Hello!! My daughter and I were taking our daily walk near our home, which has a drainage reservoir nearby. We found this rock which at closer glance consisted of several fossil impressions. At first we thought it was a fish's fin but after some brief research I believe it may be some sort of Byrozoan. Can anyone help ID?

[westcoast]

Correct! It's a fenestella bryozoan. Good work.

[MJordan4382]

Thanks for the quick reply! Can you please tell me more about Fenestella Byrozoan?

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Life positions of different fenestellids. 

Fenestella means 'little windows' the rectangular spaces in the structure that are part of the way, along with the overall shape, that channels water currents to bring food  particles to the tiny colonial animals that filter feed from their holes, the zooecia, in the structure as seen in 'e' below.

 

 

[Fossildude19]

LINK

Nice example - thanks for posting it. 

[MJordan4382]

Cool!! Any idea how old we this fossil may be? 

[FossilNerd]

10 minutes ago, MJordan4382 said:

Cool!! Any idea how old we this fossil may be? 

Your profile says you live in North Alabama, and you said you found it near your home,  so it could be anywhere from 248-590 Million years old. See the basic geological map below. We would need to look at a more detailed map, but narrowing down the location would give you a more accurate time frame. 
 

 

[erose]

I have spent some time over the years attempting to sort out and identify bryozoa. They are a tough bunch.  For the fenestrate specimens I have from the Pennsylvanian here in Texas I have to first sort them all out by size and general form.  There are very fine meshes and larger coarser meshes. Then I have to see how many are face up or face down. The zooecia are only on one side so you have to get out the 20X magnifier and look closely.  You then sort them by those with many many zooecia scattered along the stalks versus those with regularly spaced holes all lined up in a row.  The relative size and spacing of the cross bars can help as well. Some create very square or rectangular "windows" while others form ovals.  

 

Once you figure out your stratigraphy and age you may be able to find some faunal lists that researchers have already created.  With that in hand you should be able to find references to compare yours against.  

 

But as I mentioned above, bryozaons are HARD to identify.  There are whole groups that include several genera that on the surface look virtually alike and can only be identified to species by making multiple thin sections and looking at the internal structure of the zooecia.

 

Despite all of that I still love to collect Bryozoans. They were, and still are, an amazingly diverse and prolific phylum.