Golf ball dimpled surface

[307FossilGuy]

Can anyone help me with this one? Have found a lot of darker brown, nearly black ones also. Thought they were a shell of sorts but not sure

[Herb]

coral?

[FossilDAWG]

I agree it looks like coral.  You are more likely to get a better ID if you tell us something about where it was found, the age and geological formation if you know that information. The photo should be centered and close up on the fossil as well.

 

Don

[jpc]

Hi from Casper.  I love the color.  I have spot in Sweetwater county where I find bones this same color.  I am assuming you found this in SW WY.   I think you might have nice blue piece of soft shelled turtle.  Can you show us the other side and even a side-on view.  Or a piece of a skeet.  

[Rockwood]

Definitely bone structure there. 

Beautiful piece !

[307FossilGuy]

Thanks so much everyone! I’m not sure of the age and name of the formation as I am an amateur collector. It was found in the gray clay hill area, on flat ground, and exposed in the shute creek area near Opal WY.

[Rockwood]

[jpc]

Yes, soft shell turtle. Here is a turtle anatomy lesson... you can impress your friends and family with.  Turtle shells are built of flat bones fused to the ribs.  The bottom side photo shows the rib nicely; it is that raised section going across the bottom staight up and down in your photo.  That is the inside of the shell.  The first photo is the flat bone, which makes up the outside of the shell.  I don't know of many other places in the world where bones are preserved with this color blue.  It is pretty local and special.  At my spot, only one in maybe 100 bone pieces is blue, and the preservation is usually not as good as yours.  Good find.  There should be crocodile bits out there too.  They have a slightly different texture than this guy.  The bluffs near Opal (pronounced Oh-pal, like a friend, here in WY), are middle Eocene in age, part of the Bridger Formation.  About 40 million years old, when WY was a lot warmer. 

 

Definitely not a skeet.  

[siteseer]

Hi JP,

 

Back in the 90's, a lady allowed a friend and I to look for fossils on her property near Opal.  I found two or three pieces of petrified wood and bone bits.  One of the wood pieces was light blue inside.

 

And yeah, that's an unusual color.  I've seen a similar color in some STH teeth and a lighter blue as well.  The lighter blue is seen in some Olcese Sand shark teeth and only occasionally in some of those reptile teeth from the Bull Canyon Formation of New Mexico.  There was also that marmot tooth (Pleistocene?) someone showed on the forum years ago.

 

Jess

[307FossilGuy]

10 minutes ago, jpc said:

Yes, soft shell turtle. Here is a turtle anatomy lesson... you can impress your friends and family with.  Turtle shells are built of flat bones fused to the ribs.  The bottom side photo shows the rib nicely; it is that raised section going across the bottom staight up and down in your photo.  That is the inside of the shell.  The first photo is the flat bone, which makes up the outside of the shell.  I don't know of many other places in the world where bones are preserved with this color blue.  It is pretty local and special.  At my spot, only one in maybe 100 bone pieces is blue, and the preservation is usually not as good as yours.  Good find.  There should be crocodile bits out there too.  They have a slightly different texture than this guy.  The bluffs near Opal (pronounced Oh-pal, like a friend, here in WY), are middle Eocene in age, part of the Bridger Formation.  About 40 million years old, when WY was a lot warmer. 

 

Definitely not a skeet.  

Outstanding... thank you very much for the great knowledge. What is a skeet?

[jpc]

skeet = clay pigeon.  

 

Pleased to help.  Feel free to ask more questions if you find more stuff.  

[307FossilGuy]

4 minutes ago, jpc said:

skeet = clay pigeon.  

 

Pleased to help.  Feel free to ask more questions if you find more stuff.  

Awesome! Will do