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Is this a Lebanon octopus or a squid painted to look like one?


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Hi all, a friend recently offered an interesting fossil to me - an octopus from Lebanon.

 

Now, as some of you might know - Lebanon does have octopus fossils, though they are very rare. This fella here doesn't look outright fake at first glance, but I don't know if he's real either.

 

I don't know many Lebanese experts, but when I showed it to two, here's what I was told.

 

Expert A - It's real, but the tentacles are painted

Expert B - It's just a squid painted to look like an octopus

 

Now, painted tentacles is annoying, but at least it would be a real octopus. But a squid painted to look like one is a big no-no. What are your thoughts on this guy?

 

IMG-20170203-WA0000.thumb.jpg.345a1e4f2fb3518e427e622580bd8fbc.jpg IMG-20170203-WA0002.thumb.jpg.e3100c7374dbd8bc97e3d48cc43bcec5.jpg IMG-20170203-WA0006.thumb.jpg.f9774b120c442f2bdcad618bbc7cb5df.jpg

Looking forward to meeting my fellow Singaporean collectors! Do PM me if you are a Singaporean, or an overseas fossil-collector coming here for a holiday!

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I would have to say that this looks like a squid, with tentacles painted. 

The large, dark object on the left hand side looks to me like a cuttlebone, which would indicate it is a squid. 

 

Compare with an image with reversed black and white:

 

IMG-20170203-WA0006.jpg-vert.jpg

 

 

IMG-20170203-WA0006.jpg.1c849b9ed7da2f46e5a92c1cafa0f7e5.jpg

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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I agree the tentacles look painted on and a poor job at that.  For comparison here are a couple being sold by a dealer.  .  The bottom one looks very close to the one in question.  He's calling them squid with these species names

Trachytheuthis libaotica   aandRachitheuthis donovani 

hitheuthis donovani 

IIL9269.JPG.875e38f81a83e7b71fa4bcf146693a3a.JPGIIL9033.jpg.6863abcacb5471ae1cea6749e811cc16.jpg

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The contrast between the look of what would be soft tissue on the fish and that of the tentacles is what I noticed first. They should have gone with a semi gloss.

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Thanks guys.

 

I shall be passing on this then.

Looking forward to meeting my fellow Singaporean collectors! Do PM me if you are a Singaporean, or an overseas fossil-collector coming here for a holiday!

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