Indian_money Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) I found this in Fairview TN which is (edit) Mississippian. Haven't ever found a fossil curved in this way. Also I think it may be 3 or four all stuck together. The most pronounced one seems to have a candy cane shape to it. Insight would be great thanks! Edited August 30, 2014 by Indian_money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Weird. I wonder if those aren't corals.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian_money Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) If it helps there are two spots on this rock where you can see definite chambers (like in the second photo). Also there are only horizontal striations on these that I can tell. On My corals I usually see vertical striations. Edited August 28, 2014 by Indian_money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanNREMTP Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Can we get a picture of the base of it and the top? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 I too suspect they are geodized corals. "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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian_money Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) Here is a video I took of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAJzNESucZ0They are very worn, but if it helps this is the top and bottom view in reference to the second photo. Edited August 28, 2014 by Indian_money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian_money Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 I too suspect they are geodized corals. Auspex, do corals have chambers like that? And no lines going up the length of the body but rather have ones that go across? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 It looks like a clump of large crinoid stems. I would say coral, but the second picture shows what looks like a cross section of a crinoid stem. 1 ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Auspex, do corals have chambers like that? And no lines going up the length of the body but rather have ones that go across? These are geodized; the outer surface seems to be the least metamorphosed. I think they may be rugose corals. "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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tethys Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 I could see that as a fragmented shell that has been encrusted with cornulites. The link has a good photo. Cornulites (Schlotheim, 1820) is a genus of cornulitid tubeworms. Their shells have vesicular wall structure, and are both externally and internally annulated. They usually occur as encrusters on various shelly fossils. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian_money Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 It looks like a clump of large crinoid stems. I would say coral, but the second picture shows what looks like a cross section of a crinoid stem. I agree it looks like a crinoid cross section in that spot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobWill Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 The horizontal lines seem too close together for cephalopod septa. The chambers would be too small to float all that shell material. Do you mean the cavity when you say chamber? Usually a chamber is filled in and a cavity can occur anywhere on many fossils. If the other corals you find don't look like this maybe it's a new one for you! I don't know much about corals but some of the ones I find have visible septa and small radial chambers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian_money Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 I could see that as a fragmented shell that has been encrusted with cornulites. The link has a good photo. VERY interesting, I looked up more photos of cornulites and one of them resembles the curved specimen in the first photo I posted. And it would explain why it is attached to what I think is a crinoid stem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TqB Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 I think the resemblance to Cornulites is just external, and they're rather large. The horizontal partitions are just right for the tabulae of some rugose corals. Tarquin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard_l Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 If it had been Mississippian I would have said crinoid but crinoid stems from the Ordovician are generally not very thick, although geodization will expand fossils a lot from there original size. My vote is still with rugose coral but it is very odd. Howard_L http://triloman.wix.com/kentucky-fossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian_money Posted August 29, 2014 Author Share Posted August 29, 2014 If it had been Mississippian I would have said crinoid but crinoid stems from the Ordovician are generally not very thick, although geodization will expand fossils a lot from there original size. My vote is still with rugose coral but it is very odd. Sorry! I looked at the map closer it IS Mississippian. I was looking at the wrong place on the map ::embarrassed face:: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TqB Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 (edited) There are several Mississippian colonial corals that look right (in the UK I'd say a large diameter Siphonodendron or Diphyphyllum, both of which occur in N. America). Edited August 30, 2014 by TqB Tarquin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian_money Posted August 30, 2014 Author Share Posted August 30, 2014 That seems right. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howard_l Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 If you are sure it is Mississippian I will change my vote to geodized crinoid stem. Howard_L http://triloman.wix.com/kentucky-fossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 If you are sure it is Mississippian I will change my vote to geodized crinoid stem. Likewise. "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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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