dre464 Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 My wife and I got to spend a few days in Brenham, Texas without the kids (awesome!). I was able to convince my wife to go with me to the Whiskey Bridge on the Brazos River to do a little fossil hunting. The recent rains and flooding had restructured the cliff face and I was concerned about our safety so we didn't venture too far upstream. I was unprepared and had nothing but a grocery store plastic bag to place our finds in. I didn't even have any tools for digging, which I was a bit disappointed about. I thought I was going to have to use my keys. When we reached the river I was pleased to see someone had preceded us, and had left behind a claw hammer! If anyone on TFF lost a hammer, its under the bridge! I left it for the next fossil hunter... I hammered out chunks of soft stone (only about 10 pounds worth) and packed them in the bag. Once home I got started soaking the pieces in water. They fell apart almost immediately, and while sifting I managed to find some small, but beautiful, treasures. I will be scouring through jkfoam's posts for identifications, but I wanted to post three pieces to see if anyone could help me identify them. They look to me like crustacean claws, something I know nothing about. I've found papers on crabs and such that lived in the Eocene waters at the Whiskey Bridge site, but I don't know what is what. The specimens are below. Scales are in centimeters. Are they crabs? Are they lobsters? Are they shrimp? Are they none of the above? Any info would be greatly appreciated!!! "Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator." - C.S. Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcusFossils Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Very prefessional looking pictures Great stuff Sorry I can't help witha an ID Website: https://www.instagram.com/paleo_archives/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- “It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.” ― Edgar Allan Poe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acron611 Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 They seem most like modern crawfish claws. However, I don't have that much knowledge in the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guguita2104 Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 My wife and I got to spend a few days in Brenham, Texas without the kids (awesome!). I was able to convince my wife to go with me to the Whiskey Bridge on the Brazos River to do a little fossil hunting. The recent rains and flooding had restructured the cliff face and I was concerned about our safety so we didn't venture too far upstream. I was unprepared and had nothing but a grocery store plastic bag to place our finds in. I didn't even have any tools for digging, which I was a bit disappointed about. I thought I was going to have to use my keys. When we reached the river I was pleased to see someone had preceded us, and had left behind a claw hammer! If anyone on TFF lost a hammer, its under the bridge! I left it for the next fossil hunter... I hammered out chunks of soft stone (only about 10 pounds worth) and packed them in the bag. Once home I got started soaking the pieces in water. They fell apart almost immediately, and while sifting I managed to find some small, but beautiful, treasures. I will be scouring through jkfoam's posts for identifications, but I wanted to post three pieces to see if anyone could help me identify them. They look to me like crustacean claws, something I know nothing about. I've found papers on crabs and such that lived in the Eocene waters at the Whiskey Bridge site, but I don't know what is what. The specimens are below. Scales are in centimeters. DSC_7304 2.jpg DSC_7305 2.jpg Are they crabs? Are they lobsters? Are they shrimp? Are they none of the above? Any info would be greatly appreciated!!! I'm not sure, but in the first pic I'm leaning towards crab claws. Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Very nice. I've not found any of those myself. I won't go in there with the water at the current level. One slip and you are toast. Crabs have been found in the area. Shoot dinodigger a message. His brain contains a wealth of knowledge about that place. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre464 Posted July 26, 2016 Author Share Posted July 26, 2016 Thanks MarcusFossils! acron611, I had the same thought at first. It must be an extant crayfish or something. But it came out of the inside of these soft chunks of not quite hardened stone, surrounded by many, many fossil shells from the Eocene. I too am leaning toward crab claws as Guguita said. Thanks MikeD. I will send dinodigger a message. I will need his brain! "Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator." - C.S. Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Those don't look Eocene. Perhaps what you described as "rock" was indurated mud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre464 Posted July 26, 2016 Author Share Posted July 26, 2016 Hi doushantuo. The Whiskey Bridge locality is a well known Eocene site; one of the most fruitful in Texas. The Houston Geological Society has some interesting information about it. The loose rock layer that I described is the sandy glauconitic layer below the Moseley Bed described here. It contains 250+ known species!! The link also describes burrowing shrimp whose burrows can be found in this layer as well. Perhaps one of these claws is from these shrimp... "Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator." - C.S. Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 (edited) Hi, The left ones looks like fossil portunoid crab chelae. The right one, difficulk to say but recall a Ctenochelles (gost shrimp) manus. Insist... there must to be more Edited July 27, 2016 by MB 1 http://www.mbfossilcrabs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre464 Posted July 28, 2016 Author Share Posted July 28, 2016 Thanks MB. I do remember reading about ghost shrimp as a possibility at this site... "Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator." - C.S. Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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