taylorcold Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Found a beautiful specimine of agatized coral in the surf on Honeymoon Island yesterday (8.18.13). I go there 2-3 times a week to fish, hunt coral and photograph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squalicorax Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Wow, that one is incredible! congrats. How often are they found ? My Flickr Page of My Collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/79424101@N00/sets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakoMeCrazy Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 WOW. That's a really nice specimen. Great find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 (edited) Nice piece, but what part of it is the coral? All I see is drusy chalcedony. Edited August 23, 2013 by Wrangellian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 (edited) Nice piece, but what part of it is the coral? All I see is drusy chalcedony. I agree, this looks like botryoidal chalcedony. I don't see coral ... Edited August 24, 2013 by AgrilusHunter "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 Botryoidal.. that's the word I was looking for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdevey Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 I agree, this looks like botryoidal chalcedony. I don't see coral ... I agree too, but what a great piece! WOW ....I did not know that could be found in Florida. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sacha Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 Botryoidal formations regularly appear on the inside surfaces of Florida and Georgia agatized coral when the replacement process remains incomplete leaving a hollow interior. These "geode" types are highly sought after for the great colors (Tampa Bay Coral) and interesting structures. Here's a sample I posted on another string. This one is from Georgia. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 Hi Sacha, I see, so this is coral then! Most fascinating! So the other side would be where the coral fossil is visible and this side is the geode like interior. Something like this? They are beautiful! I must see more! Taylor can we see the other side of your coral as well? "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 Found a beautiful specimine of agatized coral in the surf on Honeymoon Island yesterday (8.18.13). I go there 2-3 times a week to fish, hunt coral and photograph. Hi taylorcold, yep the beaches out there are nice as are most Pinellas county beaches and for that matter all along the coast--hey its Florida and that coral void fill find of yours is especially nice! Congrats! Hi Sacha, I see, so this is coral then! Most fascinating! So the other side would be where the coral fossil is visible and this side is the geode like interior. Something like this? They are beautiful! I must see more! Taylor can we see the other side of your coral as well? Hi John, yep there are a number of different corals and preservation types that you can find along the Pinellas coast. Here's one of the darker specimens like taylorcold's and sacha's showing the solid corallites (I think this is the correct term--someone correct me if I am wrong) with only small voids around them. This shot is a rough break and would probably look good polished and would probably photograph much more easily. There is another lighter colored version where alot of the voids have remains of just the inner structures. I'm sure taylorcold and Sacha probably have some more really good finds showing similar structures! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masonboro37 Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Splendid specimens! So pretty! Process of identification "mistakes create wisdom". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verydeadthings Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Very nice find! I have a lot of this agatized coral from back when I lived in Sarasota...glad to hear good stuff is still washing up at this location Thought I'd share a few of my pieces. One of my bigger finds was a partially agatized coral head, which I sliced up with a rock saw. Coral polyps are visible and some of the more heavily agatized regions are translucent. It looks to me like there is a mollusc borehole in the coral head. This next piece has some nice banding to it (the piece is about fist sized): The next piece has much smaller polyps: Here is a branching coral: Finally, a larger branching coral in a matrix...one of these days I'm gonna dissolve the matrix, maybe muriatic acid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verydeadthings Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Also, I've only ever found botryoidal agatized coral at Honeymoon Island and Withlacoochee (although I've only been to the Withlacoochee once). The only druzy specimen I've found was in the Wacissa river: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe D. Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 In case you are interested that Coral came from the bottom of the channel of Tampa Bay. It was the spoils from keeping the channel deep and open. That stuff was dropped there years ago and is still popping up from storms and wave action. You can see the fossilized sea creatures on the surface of some of the Coral. They are all a usually a pretty iridescent blue, with a black or white background. I donated at lot of it to a person who makes jewelry for a living. People used to think I was a crazed lunatic when I took my crack hammer out into the waves to break up pieces of Agatised Coral to fit in my bucket. There are so many "shell" collectors around who thought I was crushing their lovely shells. I always had to show them what I was doing so I didn't get lynched. Joe D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sacha Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 I love looking for coral. Every one is mystery. Flint knappers love it to. They look for the good quality solids and I look for the "geodes". Here is the biggest "geode" I've come home with. I sank the kayak twice with this one, but the red botryoidal cavern stretches through the entire piece. See the hammer for scale. Color is quite variable but tends to be earth tones from the Withlacoochee. It also takes a great polish. This is one of the first pieces I made for my wife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Very nice find! I have a lot of this agatized coral from back when I lived in Sarasota...glad to hear good stuff is still washing up at this location Thought I'd share a few of my pieces. One of my bigger finds was a partially agatized coral head, which I sliced up with a rock saw. Coral polyps are visible and some of the more heavily agatized regions are translucent. It looks to me like there is a mollusc borehole in the coral head. IMG_2784.JPG IMG_2785.JPG This next piece has some nice banding to it (the piece is about fist sized): IMG_2787.JPG The next piece has much smaller polyps: IMG_2790.JPG Here is a branching coral: IMG_2789.JPG Finally, a larger branching coral in a matrix...one of these days I'm gonna dissolve the matrix, maybe muriatic acid. IMG_2791.JPG Nice examples. Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I love looking for coral. Every one is mystery. Flint knappers love it to. They look for the good quality solids and I look for the "geodes". Here is the biggest "geode" I've come home with. I sank the kayak twice with this one, but the red botryoidal cavern stretches through the entire piece. See the hammer for scale. geode.jpg Color is quite variable but tends to be earth tones from the Withlacoochee. coral.jpg It also takes a great polish. This is one of the first pieces I made for my wife. Triangle.jpg More nice examples. I like kayak sinkers to a point! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Hi Sacha, That large geode is amazing! It really does look like a cavern within the coral. "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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