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Fish in the Rock


Diverboone

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 I found this fish a few years ago in Stewart County Tn on the Tennessee River bank. 

B51A340B-BFCB-4460-8E48-0FA2814E960B.jpeg

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Hello and welcome to the forum. Sorry but it doesn’t remind me of a fish. Some more pictures might help :).

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I think the "fish" is a tabulate coral. The plate it is on is likely heavily salted with crinoid material in a smashed form. 

I have encountered the idea that if something lived in water it was a fish. Maybe ? :)

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I’ll have to locate the correct SD card, I have better quality pictures than this. When viewed in real life it’s without a doubt a fish. I wish I could have brought it home, but the limestone rock/boulder that it’s in, would weigh a ton or more. 

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Not a fish, unfortunately. 

After collecting and studying fossil fish for over 20 years, I can say this with confidence. 

There are no fins present, no skull or skull elements, no scales, and no tail/caudal fin. 

I also am not seeing any lateral line. 

 

This is a cross section through either a bryozoan or a coral. 

 

The area through Stewart County is largely Mississippian in age, with a some Cretaceous outcrops. 

 

 

geology_geologic-map-lg.jpg

 

 

 

While fish remains have been found, they are more commonly found as teeth.

I had no luck finding any mention of compression fossils of fish in the area. 

 

 

Image cropped, and contrasted:

 

B51A340B-BFCB-4460-8E48-0FA2814E960B.thumb.jpeg

 

 

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    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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I respect your opinion but I must disagree. There’s a dorsal fin and tail fin that are not very clear in this picture. But the lateral lines can clearly be seen in this picture. 

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4 hours ago, Diverboone said:

There’s a dorsal fin and tail fin that are not very clear in this picture. But the lateral lines can clearly be seen in this picture. 

The fins of fossil fish like those from the Green River formation are made up of tiny elements similar in appearance to this. They are in a very thin layer that is difficult to preserve when removing matrix however. This shape, as far as I can see, is composed exclusively of multiple layers of tiny elements. 

A lateral line would perhaps be evidenced in a pattern of scales. Again it would not appear to be a layer that thin that is seen in this photo. 

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5 hours ago, Diverboone said:

I respect your opinion but I must disagree. There’s a dorsal fin and tail fin that are not very clear in this picture. But the lateral lines can clearly be seen in this picture. 

Well, we can agree to disagree.  :shrug:

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    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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From JeffreyP's Devonian Gallery:

Bryozoan in cross section

gallery_13044_1993_38803.jpg     B51A340B-BFCB-4460-8E48-0FA2814E960B.thumb.jpeg.673042e782b6497ec7fecf2bb5582d39.jpeg

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    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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19 hours ago, Diverboone said:

the limestone rock/boulder that it’s in, would weigh a ton or more. 

I'm not real sure, but wouldn't that make this an extremely dense rock, or a very large bryozoan ?

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Looking at his wrist and part of glove in lower left corner The bryozoan is about 4-8”

(estimate there’s not a lot of wrist showing to be very accurate) wich would make the rock the size of a bushel basket or washtub so I’m thinking he’s not serious about the ton.....

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Rock is about 5’ wide 4’ y’all and 3.5’ deep. It’s much larger than a bushel basket. Fossil is in the neighborhood of 14” long. I’m positive the rock would weigh no less than 1500lbs but believe it would be much closer to a ton. 

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58 minutes ago, Diverboone said:

Fossil is in the neighborhood of 14” long.

I think that puts it well over the size limit for bryozoan zooids. It almost has to be a tabulate.

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1 hour ago, Diverboone said:

I’m positive the rock would weigh no less than 1500lbs but believe it would be much closer to a ton. 

If I saw a loader headed for my pickup truck with it I would definitely be concerned.

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On 5/21/2020 at 5:30 AM, Fossildude19 said:

Not a fish, unfortunately. 

After collecting and studying fossil fish for over 20 years, I can say this with confidence. 

There are no fins present, no skull or skull elements, no scales, and no tail/caudal fin. 

I also am not seeing any lateral line. 

 

This is a cross section through either a bryozoan or a coral. 

 

This is correct. Additionally, if a fish was weathering out of the rock, you would see bone material crumbling out. This is very clearly a large blocky calcitic object consistent with a bryzoan or coral.

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Limestone sized 5' x 4' x 3.5' weighs in at more than 8,000 pounds, assuming 120 pounds per cubic foot, which is a conservative estimate per cubic foot.

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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19 hours ago, Diverboone said:

Fossil is in the neighborhood of 14” long.

How does that math work on a zooid ?

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I'm leaning towards a chaetetid sponge - common in the Mississippian and overall size isn't a problem. (search Chaetetes)

 

5ec956f8b60c2_Screenshot2020-05-23at18_01_30.png.73aa2495828d9c8dd97e0125ebd6d8ea.png

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Tarquin

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With a lean like that you would want to notch bore and trigger cut it to get 'er down safely. ;)

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1 hour ago, Rockwood said:

With a lean like that you would want to notch bore and trigger cut it to get 'er down safely. ;)

I haven't a clue what that means! :D:headscratch:

Tarquin

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