Green River Fm Coprolite Inclusions

[GeschWhat]

Hi all,

I have an interesting coprolite from the Green River Fm, Wyoming. The overall size of the coprolite is approx. 1.5 mm x 38 mm long. It has a lot of inclusions, but no vertebrae. Looking at the inclusions, do you think they are from a shrimp or a fish?

[Cole]

A humans need to know never fails to amaze me. Such inquisitive creatures we are. It certainly appears to be some sort of crustacean. It even looks like you have a very nicely preserved eyeball in that poopie... I've been wrong before though.

Cole~

[rejd]

Very cool. I have some coprolite in my green river fish as well which appears to have vertebrae in it. I'll have to take some pictures and post them.

[njfossilhunter]

That is fantastic ...I'm beginning to have a thing for coprolites I have recently found two fish poop from the Triassic of the newark supergroup and a colony of invertebrate coprolite.from the marine cretaceous of New Jersey

[jpc]

I think shrimp eyeballs in the GRF are carbon stains. I may be wrong. This looks more like an isolated tooth. My vote us fish remains. Great find.

[GeschWhat]

That is fantastic ...I'm beginning to have a thing for coprolites I have recently found two fish poop from the Triassic of the newark supergroup and a colony of invertebrate coprolite.from the marine cretaceous of New Jersey

I'm telling you...poop is the best. I like it because a lot of times you get a two-for-one! Inclusions are like the prize in Cracker Jacks!

[GeschWhat]

I think shrimp eyeballs in the GRF are carbon stains. I may be wrong. This looks more like an isolated tooth. My vote us fish remains. Great find.

I don't know anything about shrimp (or the preservation of their eyeballs). I was thinking shrimp because there aren't vertebrae present and the 3rd photo (which happens to be at one end of the coprolite) looks kind of like a shrimp tail.

[GeschWhat]

A humans need to know never fails to amaze me. Such inquisitive creatures we are. It certainly appears to be some sort of crustacean. It even looks like you have a very nicely preserved eyeball in that poopie... I've been wrong before though.

Cole~

I sure hope it is an eyeball...kids would love that!

[njfossilhunter]

I'm telling you...poop is the best. I like it because a lot of times you get a two-for-one! Inclusions are like the prize in Cracker Jacks!

It sure is ...I find bits of bone and even shell pieces in my coprolites from the marine cretaceous.....Sometimes I cut them in halve looking for inclusions...just like opening a box of cracker jacks.

Edited April 19, 2015 by njfossilhunter

[abyssunder]

Very nice specimen!Congrats!

[Auspex]

Great piece!

I don't see any sign of leg or antenna segments, and so lean away from crustacean.

[GeschWhat]

Auspex, I circled the part that I was thinking was a joint. I wish I had a stronger microscope! Here's a couple more 40X pics of the inclusions

[Auspex]

Your images border on awesome!

What you have circled, though, looks to me more like a break than an articulation.

[GeschWhat]

Why thank you Auspex! It's a pain to get a good shot because I snap them with my iPod thru the microscope lens. Anyway, given the amount of undigested material, wouldn't their be vertebrae present if it was a fish? Do you know of any fish from the GRF that perhaps have vertebrae that are comprised of cartilage? I don't have much poop from the GRF because it's usually not all that interesting (not many inclusions outside of a scale here or there). I'd love to see what others out there have in their GRF coprolites!

[njfossilhunter]

I wish this thread was posted before the weekend of april 11 because they had a show near me and one of the dealers was the man that has something to do with the mining of the GRF and has a whole area just for himself....I'm sure that he might have had a few with coprolites.....I'll be waiting for him next year....Can't wait.

[GeschWhat]

I wish this thread was posted before the weekend of april 11 because they had a show near me and one of the dealers was the man that has something to do with the mining of the GRF and has a whole area just for himself....I'm sure that he might have had a few with coprolites.....I'll be waiting for him next year....Can't wait.

I actually picked this one up at the Tucson Gem Show (already prepared). I talked with one guy who's family actually runs a quarry (Ulrich). I bought an unprepared fossil fish from him that possibly had some nice coprolites. But my daughter absconded with it (a chip off the old matrix) and so far has only worked on the fish. I'm thinking of contacting them to see what they have. You're lucky to be in NJ where you can find them locally. Minnesota doesn't have snarge! (or at least I don't know what trilobite and cephalopod coprolites look like). You should post your poop...I'd love to see it!

[Auspex]

One would indeed think that if any fish bone were to survive the digestive track, it would be the vertebrae...

But, this is a tiny coprolite, and whatever produced it was a small critter, eating things smaller still. Maybe the verts needed more 'processing time'?