fossil,what is it

[keith]

This is a fossil that i recently found and would like to know if someone could identify it for me.I know nothing when it come to fossils,or identifying them,but would like to learn.Maybe someone here could help.

[Metopocetus]

If you could make the pictures smaller. More people will be able to help. Those are very large files and take a long time to load, especially on dial up.

[Guest Nicholas]

Seem to be horn corals to me.

Some google picture examples.

[fossilselachian]

Keith:

Please check the "Pinned" topic started by Anson under the Fossil ID section of the Forum. Here you will see helpful suggestions re requests for fossil identification. The Forum has some incredibly knowledgeable collectors who will bend over backwards to help you ID a fossil if they have some background information.

Welcome to the Forum

[Guest bmorefossil]

looks like coral to me

[Uncle Siphuncle]

At a quick glance I'd go with horn corals as well based on the radial symmetry and Paleozoic looking limestone.

[Guest Nicholas]

A friend of mine calls horn corals when they are in a matrix in that position "Slugs".

[keith]

Thanks to all,i have other pic,of other fossils to post,maybe next week if thats ok.I have a 13 year old son that will enjoy reading everyones comments when he gets home.Thanks again,Keith

[Guest solius symbiosus]

With so little information, I'm going to go out on a limb. I don't think it is a horn coral. I'm thinking it is the disarticulated corallites of the rugosid Lithostrotion.

[Guest Nicholas]

With so little information, I'm going to go out on a limb. I don't think it is a horn coral. I'm thinking it is the disarticulated corallites of the rugosid Lithostrotion.

I would put Solius' opinion higher than mine, he's very well read in fossils.

[kauffy]

With so little information, I'm going to go out on a limb. I don't think it is a horn coral. I'm thinking it is the disarticulated corallites of the rugosid Lithostrotion.

After just visiting the falls of ohio, and learning so much about corals, i think you may be onto something here Solius... more information is needed on age location ect..

[keith]

Mr Moderator,when you say that more information is needed,is this informationthat i can get,and how do i get it?The only thing i can tell you is i picked it up on a creek bank here in south Mississippi.Thanks for all the help.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

Yeah Solius is somewhat of an authority here on inverts similar to this, so if he and I tell you 2 different things, he may very well be correct.

[Auspex]

Mr Moderator,when you say that more information is needed,is this informationthat i can get,and how do i get it?The only thing i can tell you is i picked it up on a creek bank here in south Mississippi.Thanks for all the help.

Knowing the age of the item is often a very important clue as to what it is. The more specific the location of the find, the better to identify the geological formation, and thus the age (as well as the likely faunal list). Even "S. MS." is a help.

[Guest solius symbiosus]

Yeah Solius is somewhat of an authority here on inverts similar to this, so if he and I tell you 2 different things, he may very well be correct.

I could very easily be wrong. It is hard to tell from a pic, but I've seen similar stuff in Mississippian rocks that were what I mentioned.

EDIT: Looking at the generalized geologic map of Mississippi, it appears that the only Paleozoic stuff in Mississippi is found in the extreme N.E. corner of the state. So, either this thing washed down from up North, or I am wrong.

[jkfoam]

Keith, the location or approximate location of where a fossil was found can be very helpful in determining an identification. In this case, finding out that the fossil was found in South Mississippi can tell us that the fossil is not paleozoic and is a sclaractinian coral (Order Sclaractinia).

JKFoam