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Earendil

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Hello everybody,

 

Asking about a certain fish fossil I received from a friend who found it at the Green River Formation. Under one of the fish, there is a sort of long, tapering, uh, feces-looking squiggle. (Trying to be mature here!:D) I want to know is it a fish coprolite, a mineral deposit, or something else? If I didn't know better I'd suspect it was the entrails of the fish. Anyone out there who can help? I've also attached some pics of other suspicious discolored spots that may help.

 

IMG_5934.jpg.15efc0209cef6319f80ac1ac1f9deb5a.jpg IMG_5935.jpg IMG_5936.jpg IMG_5937.jpg

"Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell" :ammonite01:

-From The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Just found coprolite number 4 on this piece! Woo hoo!

"Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell" :ammonite01:

-From The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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The first one is a very nice fish coprolith in my thinking. :)

" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

My Library

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I've seen a lot of coprolites near fossil fish. Is this just a coincidence? I've heard that when fish die they expel gasses from their body, maybe it's just a reflex because of that. Anybody have other thoughts?

"Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell" :ammonite01:

-From The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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No, not a coincidence

I agree with the final reflex.

 

" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

My Library

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One must also keep in mind that a fish defecates many times during it's life, and that the bedding plains weren't deposited over night.

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True, but the below pictures are very convincing. Or maybe bottom-feeding fish just naturally congregate around feces?

77973152-4a98-41e5-a5c2-34655705942a.jpg

IMG_0717.PNG.06301a68bfd5b3c524f72ee673a9e7d7.png

images.jpeg

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"Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell" :ammonite01:

-From The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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The last pictures shows that the faecal matterial was dropped "in tempo".

" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

My Library

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15 minutes ago, abyssunder said:

The last pictures shows that the faecal matterial was dropped "in tempo".

Maybe.

The proximity of a second one sort of dilutes the association a bit though.

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Maybe, the second fish was prepped all arround its body including one part of its possible last dropping. The continued part of the faecal material might be intact, compared to the proximal end.

" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

My Library

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23 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Maybe.

The proximity of a second one sort of dilutes the association a bit though.

Note that the fish probably didn't die when it hit the ground and then excrete extra feces. It probably died in the water, and as it sunk towards the sea floor, it excreted the extra feces, which landed in a close proximity to it. Granted, there is almost no way we can prove it belonged to this fish, and we can only theorize why the droppings are so close but not in the right position to have been excreted by the sunken fish.

 

"Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell" :ammonite01:

-From The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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5 hours ago, yardrockpaleo said:

Just found coprolite number 4 on this piece! Woo hoo!

No, no, it’s number 2.  :DOH:

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some of my tropical fishes swim perfectly happily trailing feces,  though I think Rockwood is correct in pointing out how much more common feces are than fish and while they would not routinely fossilize the greenriver formation is quite special.  My understanding is that the mortality layers were formed by repeated ash falls killing and preserving intact layers  both fish and feces and any other oddity  in the water or bottom at the time.

IMG_0647.jpg

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35 minutes ago, Sagebrush Steve said:

No, no, it’s number 2.  :DOH:

Can't say coprolite without someone popping a number 2 joke somewhere down the line.  I'll admit I did step right into that one, though!:heartylaugh:

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"Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell" :ammonite01:

-From The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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1 hour ago, yardrockpaleo said:

Can't say coprolite without someone popping a number 2 joke somewhere down the line.  I'll admit I did step right into that one, though!:heartylaugh:

Yuck! :default_rofl:

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7 hours ago, yardrockpaleo said:

Note that the fish probably didn't die when it hit the ground and then excrete extra feces. It probably died in the water, and as it sunk towards the sea floor, it excreted the extra feces, which landed in a close proximity to it. Granted, there is almost no way we can prove it belonged to this fish, and we can only theorize why the droppings are so close but not in the right position to have been excreted by the sunken fish.

 

Lakes are seldom if ever still water. Currents typically run everywhere. A loose jet-ski will even drift counter to the wind direction in some places.

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