Carboniferous, Ohio 11/2 Lycopod cone or fish coprolite?

[saysac]

Found today in shale. Looks like a Lycopod cone with, I am not sure what, on it?

[Fossildude19]

I would vote for fish coprolite on this one.

Nice find, Sherry.

Regards,

[saysac]

Tim, I really had not thought of that? Do you have anything for comparison? I tried google and could not find any. Thank you for any help on this!

[Auspex]

I would vote for fish coprolite on this one.

Nice find, Sherry.

I agree completely. A big one, too!

Then again, some of those scales you're finding are huge.

[saysac]

Well Auspex, that is certainly true! I have seen smaller "globs" like this, but did not think anything of it. I guess they were probably fish coprolite also,but did not realize it?

[Auspex]

Coprolite happens!

I suggest fish mostly because of the associated scales and the probable odds, but who knows what other manure factories were wandering around the site?

[saysac]

True statement in every way!

[Fossildude19]

Sherry, I do not have anything similar to that.

The fish poop I usually deal with looks more like solid carbonized coal- like pieces (from the large coelacanth found here)... although, at some of my sites, I have seen smaller particulate blobs similar to yours, that when broken have a silvery appearance to the middle.

I have always taken these to be coprolites of the smaller fish found in my area.

On your specimen, the oval shape and particulate blobs just struck me immediately as coprolite.

As Auspex said, with the size of some of your scales, it is reasonable to conclude that the item is a coprolite.

Regards,

Edited November 3, 2015 by Fossildude19

[saysac]

Thank you again Tim. This one really surprised me. Makes me wonder what else I toss aside that really may be a fossil......

[Stocksdale]

I think it's a lycopod cone underneath the blob of whatever. Maybe a higher res image might help.

Maybe it's a decomposing lycopod cone?

Edited November 3, 2015 by Stocksdale

[Stocksdale]

Sherry emailed me a little better image and I adjusted the color a bit.

The left part looks like lycopod cone to me. But not sure.

[saysac]

We know that a cone was not flat, and maybe the shale helped keep some of its original form? This is a piece of branch that I found there as an example. It was actually the very first fossil I saw at the site, thought it was a snake skin at first. Any thoughts?

[Fossildude19]

I think it's a lycopod cone underneath the blob of whatever. Maybe a higher res image might help.

Maybe it's a decomposing lycopod cone?

Paul,....

Looking at the more detailed picture,... I think I can see what you are saying.

There does appear to be an indication of a central axis and angular cone "scale" structures on the left hand side of the image.

I personally have never seen a decomposed cone fossil, but that does not rule your theory out - it is a distinct possibility.

Sherry, fossils can definitely form in 3 dimensional aspects.

Your lepidodendron branch is a fantastic example of that.

Hmmm.

The rounded structures do look like fish coprolites I have seen in the past.

Now I am second guessing my coprolite id.

Really interesting piece, though.

I wonder if we can get some other eyes on this.

Regards,

[Auspex]

I saw that ghostly feature, and decided that is could be a coincidental association. Would a decomposing cone actually look like this?

[Stocksdale]

So, maybe it is both. Lycopod cone and a coprolite. The random association is certainly a possibility since I recall there being both in this shale layer.