peace river florida find

[ralobro]

[Harry Pristis]

This appears to be a preserved shrimp burrow.

 

Ophiomorpha, traditionally one of the most revered environmental indicators among trace fossils, is by no means an unambiguous entity in facies analysis and palaeoecology. Callianassa major, the best known modern analog for the Ophiomorpha-organism, is itself variable ethologically and ecologically, and it is only one of several species of thalassinidean shrimp that routinely construct knobby walled burrows. Other analogs presently known include not only additional species of Callianassa but also certain species of Upogebia and possibly Axius. Each species has its own peculiar range of habits and habitats. The collective result, in both recent and ancient settings, is a broad spectrum of burrow morphologies and environmental distributions. Each occurrence therefore must be evaluated independently, in terms of the specific evidence at hand. Only in this light is Ophiomorpha a valuable aid in environmental interpretation.
 
The gross morphology of Ophiomorpha overlaps with that of such ichnogenera as Ardelia, Gyrolithes, Teichichnus, and Thalassinoides, yet these burrow forms should be retained as separate taxa. Reconized species of Ophiomorpha, also somewhat intergradational, include O. borneensis Keij, O. irregulaire n. sp., and O. nodosa Lundgren. Taxonomic criteria are based upon modes of wall construction rather than upon burrow configuration.
 
Contribution No. 330, University of Georgia Marine Institute, Sapelo Island, Ga., U.S.A.
 

 

[Shellseeker]

Some one identified the source of "Indian Beads".  I was in Arcadia Friday found one of these shrimp burrows that could be the twin of this one..  Also about 10 Indian beads.   Thanks Harry

[Bone Daddy]

I have been saving these up to make a necklace. I knew they weren't Indian beads, but I didn't know exactly what they were either. Thanks Harry for the education on this one.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Here's another example:

 

 

[Plantguy]

7 hours ago, Harry Pristis said:

Here's another example:

 

 

Hey Harry, thats a fascinating one, it almost looks like it has one of those boring clam crypt linings. I'll have to go look at the ones I have and see what their interiors look like...never looked that close as I was always staring at the outside...thanks for the great photos. 

 

Regards, Chris 

[jcbshark]

Thanks for the explanation Harry

[digit]

I find a surprising amount of micro-burrows when sorting micro-matrix. Too small for a shrimp but possibly some sort of annelid worm. Tammy always enjoys finding "Indian Beads" and we've strung enough of these fragmented shrimp burrows together to make a necklace as Bone Daddy had mentioned. Always suspected these were from burrows--glad to see some evidence.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[ralobro]

thanks for all the info, i didnt know, very educational glad to be part of this site see u on the river

[Cam28]

Knew those indian beads weren't from native americans, recently found a couple miocene aged ones (bone valley) in a museum gravel pit. Good stuff

[megaholic]

I just had an interesting conversation with Dr Roger Portell about these "beads" last week at the Orlando Fossil Fest.  They are now of the opinion that they are man made, and not anything from a natural source.  They don't know what they are, but he wants to do a mass spectrometer scan to find the composition.  I believe their logic is that they are rifled inside, and they don't know of anything in nature that would cause that.  

 

The debate continues.... 

[digit]

Interesting. If they are looking at short segments ("beads") then I would imaging the lines along the inside might be apparent but likely would not be long enough to show any torsional twist to indicate something approaching "rifling" with incised spiral grooves. If they are looking at longer sections then that would seem to lend more credence to the burrow hypothesis.

 

I'm not sure what a MS scan would show that might indicate man-made over critter constructed but I'd be interested in hearing the results if they ever attempt this. I've got a whole necklace made out of these "beads" should they ever require additional specimens.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[megaholic]

Ken, I offered them a mason jar full just to get to the bottom of this, and he said they have plenty of them.  The rifling is not twisted as you are thinking, but rather as if something was pulled straight out of the hole.  I have some long and short ones that I crushed in a vice to see them better.  The ones from the creeks are much less worn than the ones from the river too.  I got the impression that there was some suspicion they are from some fired furnace manufacturing in the past. 

[jcbshark]

The story I heard was they wrapped clay around sticks and fired them..... seemed plausible and would be great if true considering I still have the ones I’ve found but the sheer number of them makes me follow Harry’s explanation for now as everything it’s an evolving science 

[megaholic]

I don't think there is any thoughts of them being old enough to be native American made, they are thinking man made in the last century or so. Again, they don't offer any ideas other than man made.  

 

Jeff, I am not offering any opinion here, I agree with you on the sheer numbers being hard to explain, and the scattered locality of them is not easy to understand if they are man made.  Were they dumped in the river and creeks by the truckloads back in the 30's? I think if we find out their composition it will shed the light we are looking for on these things.  

[Harry Pristis]

2 hours ago, jcbshark said:

The story I heard was they wrapped clay around sticks and fired them..... seemed plausible and would be great if true considering I still have the ones I’ve found but the sheer number of them makes me follow Harry’s explanation for now as everything it’s an evolving science 

 

 

I heard that same explanation 35 years ago.  That idea is durable, but wrong.  The story tracks back to a real Native American practice, I think, but not in South Florida.  South Florida natives had no shortage of raw material to make beads, typically mollusk shell.  They would not choose sandy matrix to make ceramic beads any more than a modern potter would use sandy clay when fine-grained clay is readily available. 

 

This bead explanation is one of those collector myths that finds its way into common knowledge.  Such ideas are passed from collector to collector, and are thus difficult to eliminate.

 

 

[darrow]

Costal mud shrimp with eggs I photographed recently. Upogebia affinis I think.