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Fish And Crustaceans Of The Pennsylvanian Stark Shale


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The Stark Shale is a black mudstone that formed in an anoxic, deep-water environment. Most fossils are pelagic animals that settled from higher in the water column.

The most common fossils are conodonts, but fish and crustacean remains are occasionally found.

Some fish....

Listracanthus is the most common fish fossil:

post-6808-0-42639300-1333669501_thumb.jpg

Various spines can be found:

post-6808-0-17017700-1333669575_thumb.jpg

post-6808-0-93212600-1333669602_thumb.jpg

As are dermal denticles:

post-6808-0-53083900-1333669690_thumb.jpg

Fins are not unheard of:

post-6808-0-39040900-1333669750_thumb.jpg

post-6808-0-10848100-1333669762_thumb.jpg

Some fish fragments are identifiable. Here are some skull elements of the shark Cobelodus:

post-6808-0-46956400-1333669839_thumb.jpg

The bone at top is a lower jaw.

A Cobelodus scapula:

post-6808-0-51841100-1333669904_thumb.jpg

The bone has been outlined with ink. No, I don't do that anymore. :)

And finally, a possible fish skull:

post-6808-0-71523600-1333670018_thumb.jpg

post-6808-0-76030100-1333670038_thumb.jpg

And some shrimp....

Concavicaris, a thylacocephalan:

post-6808-0-84188100-1326022666_thumb.jpg

Complete with carapace, segments, and telson:

post-6808-0-17519100-1333670303_thumb.jpg

Carapace and segments:

post-6808-0-10407400-1333670397_thumb.jpg

And now for something completely different....

Some sinuous tubes:

post-6808-0-25687400-1333670585_thumb.jpg

Context is critical.

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I'd not been introduced to the fossils of the Stark Shale before; it's a very different look, and terribly interesting!

Is the Stark thinly bedded, or massive? And, in either event, do we know why it may be so?

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Some very cool fossils you have found there.. You are spitting the shale to find those?

Welcome to the forum!

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Are these finds possible in our other black shales, such as Eudora? Not that I would know which is which without your help. :mellow:

I have been finding the conodonts in what I think is Eudora, and also in the Stark pieces I picked up at the quarry.

Thanks for sharing your finds!

Steve

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Very interesting. :)

I like to see things like this that I haven't seen before.

Thanks for showing us.

Regards,

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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The black portion of the Stark is very fissile. It's similar to slate.

As seen in a creek bank I found recently, the this part of the Stark is typically 1 to 1.5 foot thick:

post-6808-0-43033900-1333674903_thumb.jpg

Because it lies beneath the Winterset Limestone, it is often covered.

It takes a lot of splitting to find anything besides conodonts.

Context is critical.

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Are these finds possible in our other black shales, such as Eudora? Not that I would know which is which without your help. :mellow:

I have been finding the conodonts in what I think is Eudora, and also in the Stark pieces I picked up at the quarry.

Thanks for sharing your finds!

Fish and crustaceans potentially could be found in all deep-water black shales. They seem to be most 'common' in the Stark. I did find a couple thylacocephalans in the Eudora in Platte County.

Context is critical.

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I've seen shark teeth from the Stark Shale - site said to be near Kansas City. Most of the teeth seemed to belong to Campodus or Agassizodus - teeth in good shape too.

Fish and crustaceans potentially could be found in all deep-water black shales. They seem to be most 'common' in the Stark. I did find a couple

thylacocephalans in the Eudora in Platte County.

Fish and crustaceans potentially could be found in all deep-water black shales. They seem to be most 'common' in the Stark. I did find a couple thylacocephalans in the Eudora in Platte County.

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I've seen shark teeth from the Stark Shale - site said to be near Kansas City. Most of the teeth seemed to belong to Campodus or Agassizodus - teeth in good shape too.

Oops, I forgot to include my Agassizodus :) :

post-6808-0-33416600-1328780891_thumb.jpg

Context is critical.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Are complete fish/sharks found here? This is an interesting lagerstatten.

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Are complete fish/sharks found here?

I've never seen one here, but some from the Stark of Nebraska are pictured in Gerard Case's 'A Pictoral Guide to Fossils'.

Context is critical.

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