My first finds

[Mr Galasphere]

I took a small scoop of this matrix straight out of the bag.

[Mr Galasphere]

Took it over to my humble sorting station.

[Mr Galasphere]

Here are my first finds, Several species of shark teeth. Sea urchin spine? Shell fragments.

I haven't made a final identification of the shark teeth yet.

[Fossildude19]

Brightened and enlarged:

 

[Mediospirifer]

Nice! Looks like you're off to a good start. 

 

[Mr Galasphere]

Next, I will do a systematic work up, size fractionating with my set of sieves.

The matrix is very dusty so I guess I should do a rinse with water.

[Adam86cucv]

Yes that is an urchin spine.  I feel rinsing the "dust" off does make it easier to see the fossils vs. tiny stones.  I would recommend a half as much matrix mix in the tray so as you are looking at the matrix you can slide the stones to the empty side.  Less "clutter" to miss fossils.  I also will aside matrix I have searched and will revisit it on a different day with fresh eyes and typically I do find several things missed the first time.  

[Mr Galasphere]

3 minutes ago, Adam86cucv said:

Yes that is an urchin spine.  I feel rinsing the "dust" off does make it easier to see the fossils vs. tiny stones.  I would recommend a half as much matrix mix in the tray so as you are looking at the matrix you can slide the stones to the empty side.  Less "clutter" to miss fossils.  I also will aside matrix I have searched and will revisit it on a different day with fresh eyes and typically I do find several things missed the first time.  

I learned very quickly I had too much matrix in the tray. 

I think searching fractions of the matrix that are uniform size by using the sieves will help too. Small fossils can get lost among the larger debris.

[Adam86cucv]

2 minutes ago, Mr Galasphere said:

I learned very quickly I had too much matrix in the tray. 

I think searching fractions of the matrix that are uniform size by using the sieves will help too. Small fossils can get lost among the larger debris.

That is true too.  If feels easier to find things among similar sized material.  It's fun, addictive, and can become a black hole for time. Lol

[RuMert]

Could be an otolith

[Coco]

Hi,

 

I don't think so, I’ve never seen otoliths with streaks like this. They often have round marks, but not straight lines. I’m thinking more like bivalve traces.

 

Coco