JBGood Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Found this in a creek bed in Hamilton Co. Ohio, Ordovician rocks primarily. I thought it was an animal bone or what, I don't know. After cleaniing it and putting it under some magnification it appears to be either a plant stem thing or some crinoid type animal. What think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 This looks like bryozoan or coral. What is the size? Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I'd say it is a bryozoan. And where there are bryozoans, there may be other interesting marine fossils as well! ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 +1 for bryozoan (a colonial animal) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBGood Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 the fossil is about 16cm long and about 14mm wide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Although I am not well versed in the difference between bryozoan and coral, this seems a little large for a bryozoan. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 12 minutes ago, ynot said: Although I am not well versed in the difference between bryozoan and coral, this seems a little large for a bryozoan. Cincinnati is known for having quite a diverse number of bryozoan species, and some of them grow relatively large. The monticules on this one do look coral-esque, though. I'd have to dig through my materials to pinpoint a better ID. ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBGood Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 4 minutes ago, ynot said: Although I am not well versed in the difference between bryozoan and coral, this seems a little large for a bryozoan. That's what I thought. I see tons of bryozoa everywhere around here but always small. This thing I spotted from about 6 feet way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I'm second guessing my initial bryozoan ID. Tony might be correct that this is a coral, similar to Cladopora. ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I agree, looks like Cladopora . " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifbrindacier Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Before reading what you said, guys, i thought it was a kind of coral. @ynot-Onty-Tony is right. Thanks for sharing it with us. "On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) "We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes." In memory of Doren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBGood Posted April 3, 2017 Author Share Posted April 3, 2017 Well not so fast on the coral ID? I have been in touch with a Dry Dredgers member who has weighed in on this ID. "Dry Dredgers are an association of amateur geologists and fossil collectors. Established 1942. Visit www.drydredgers.org for more info and photos!" See them on FB. These guys are pretty much the authority on fossils in the Cincinnati area. I have copied and shared below this correspondence so far. "Bryozoa. None of the Ordovician strata exposed near Anderson have corals (at least, they would be unreported), plus it has the look of a bryozoan: branching, elongated, and with long, thin fibers (the bryozoan's zooids). Looks just like local limestone (perhaps Fairview Formation or Bellevue Formation, but difficult to tell from just an isolated piece), so I doubt it is a glacial erratic (which would allow for the possibility of branching corals like that---but that's *extremely* rare)" "Yeah, pretty sure it's not Cladopora. The Columbus Limestone has Cladopora, but it would be extremely unusual to find a piece of that in a creek near Cincinnati, given the direction the ice sheets moved in our area. Now, we do sometimes get Devonian erratics brought down from near Toledo (I've heard of someone finding a Silica Shale Phacops in a glacial erratic north of Cincinnati), but that's also very rare. Plus, Cladopora zooids have distinctly larger apertures than this appears to have. In terms of identifying it more specifically... that's pretty tricky. The specimen you have is rather eroded (from being in a creek or somesuch), which is why you can see the zooid "fibers". That's typical of many of our local bryozoans, so it doesn't really narrow things down to a genus (or even family) level. IDing bryozoans typically requires thin sections and microscope work, because it's all about the microstructure of the zooids (etc.)" "Given where you found it, the best I can say is "probably a trepostome bryozoan, most likely from the Kope Formation or Fairview Formation". That would be Upper Ordovician, Edenian Stage or Maysvillian Stage. Steve Holland's website has a decent guide to identifying bryozoans, but it's still hard. http://strata.uga.edu/cincy/fauna/bryozoanStudy/trepostomeGuide.html Cincinnatian Fossils and Stratigraphy Stratigraphy and paleontology of the Upper Ordovician rocks near Cincinnati, Ohio strata.uga.edu as it assumes you have thin sections. The old Paleontology of Kentucky book has a number of bryozoan images in its plates but beware that many look alike, so I wouldn't use it for a firm ID http://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/KPS/poky/pages/pokych02plates.htm Paleontology of Kentucky, by W.R. Jillson, 1931: Chapter Two, Ordovician Fauna (Shepard). Tyrone limestone, High Bridge, Kentucky. After Foerste, Bul. Sci. Lab. Dennison Univ. Vol. 17, Pl. XI, fig. 7, 1912. uky.edu (also some of those names may be out of date)" I will run down some of the referred sources and add to this post as I find interesting tidbits. But first, I'm going back down into the creek and look for another one! I welcome any and all comments on this interesting specimen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 willthishelp? the author is one of the giants of bryozoology,BTW,IMHO edit:ok,my fault the emphasis in this one is more on transverse and longitudinal sections ,and not whole pspecimens.Still,a good read edit two: It's going from bad to worse:Wrong "Hamilton" But it IS about trepostomes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 Fritz revision Dekaya,Homotrypa,Stigmatella ca 1970,I think,haven't checked yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBGood Posted April 3, 2017 Author Share Posted April 3, 2017 1 hour ago, doushantuo said: willthishelp? the author is one of the giants of bryozoology,BTW,IMHO edit:ok,my fault the emphasis in this one is more on transverse and longitudinal sections ,and not whole pspecimens.Still,a good read edit two: It's going from bad to worse:Wrong "Hamilton" But it IS about trepostomes! Thanks! This is all very interesting to me. I was chatting with my wife about how Devonian fossils might wind up in my Ordovician creek bed and she suggested "maybe it was brought here?" like in a load of fill from up on the hill above the creek. She was kinda right (if it turns out to be Devonian). Glaciers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBGood Posted April 3, 2017 Author Share Posted April 3, 2017 Since I'm short on microscopes and wouldn't know an acetate slice if one jumped up and bit me I'm going with this fossil is a Trepostome and I will take a leap to Peranopora because it kind of looks like the one in the photo and they are very common around here. http://strata.uga.edu/cincy/fauna/trepostomatida/Peronopora.html It is not a coral! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.