Florida fossil collecting

[Misha]

Hello everyone,

I just came back from a short trip to Florida to visit some relatives who recently moved out there. I knew very little about fossil hunting in Florida but with the generous help of a number of forum members got to learn a lot.

On one of the days while visiting, we decided to visit Venice. While there I did end up picking up some tiny shark and ray teeth, interesting modern shells but nothing particularly special, once we got off the beach, though, I noticed a pile of shell material in sandy matrix near the parking lot I initially thought it was just the same modern stuff as on the beach but closer inspection showed that these were definitely fossils, they had a different texture, coloration to the modern shells, were more chalky and fragile and we're covered in matrix inside and out. I didn't take any in situ pics as I had no phone on me but here are some photos now that I have them home. 

Also, I'm trying out a new photography technique using an elevated glass pane I saw here on TFF, and I think it looks quite nice, really makes the fossils pop. I don't remember the name of the topic but if anyone wants to link it below, I would appreciate it as I think people may find it quite useful.

Olive shells:

Next to a modern lettered olive I found, interesting to see the morphological differences side by side as although they are similar the form of the shells is different 

Other gastropods:

Bivalves:

These two were connected when found, but split apart on the way home, revealing some interesting fossils inside.

Two oysters, not sure if they're the same species, they look pretty different, the smaller one is complete while the other is only one valve

Some tiny gastropods and bivalves, the gastropods were found next to each other in the matrix while the bivalves came from the larger bivalve that opened up

finally, this I thought was really cool, it's a tiny barnacle, also from the bivalves that opened up, it's preserved in beautiful detail, you can see some very intricate details of the shell on the top and bottom of the specimen

This was my first time in Florida, and my first experience collecting such young fossils, it was very enjoyable and I hope to find more stuff on later adventures.

I have pretty much no idea as to the IDs of any of these fossils, so if anyone knowledgeable has any suggestions, I'd be very interested to hear.

Thanks for looking!

Misha

[Nimravis]

Misha- Nice report and finds.

[Meganeura]

I love the little barnacle fossil! The only barnacle fossils I've found in the peace are pretty boring steinkerns.

[Coco]

@MikeR

 

Coco

[minnbuckeye]

@MikeR has a post titled "Gastropods of the Tamiami",  FULL of beautiful pictures and descriptions. Google the title and likely IDs can be found!!!!

 

Another valuable resource is "Neocene Atlas of Ancient Life Southeastern United States".

Edited March 18, 2023 by minnbuckeye

[FossilNerd]

Nice finds Misha! Thanks for sharing.  

[Shellseeker]

17 hours ago, Misha said:

finally, this I thought was really cool, it's a tiny barnacle, also from the bivalves that opened up, it's preserved in beautiful detail, you can see some very intricate details of the shell on the top and bottom of the specimen

Whenever you are on the forum,  and have an identification like "barnacle" a search of the forum can highlight the various forms that fossil might take....

 

[Jeffrey P]

Congratulations Misha. Some real nice Pliocene/Pleistocene shell finds there. Florida is very rich in fossils. As you said, many reasons to return there.