digit Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Last week I had to do a little yard work to remove an old hibiscus tree that had seen better days and was more dead than alive. While digging out the root ball I had to dig down a few feet in the sandy material that passes for soil here in South Florida. It is not uncommon to find lots of shells while digging--the ground is literally shot through with small bivalves (mostly Chione sp.) and small conch, murex, and whelks are not particularly rare finds either. I have a small collection of some of the nicer preserved specimens that have come to light while planting (or removing) trees on my property. I know that Florida has one of the highest densities of golf courses per capita in the US but I didn't realize that this tradition dated back so far. In actuality, this tiny coral which, admittedly does actually resemble one of Titleist's best, seems to be a small species of Siderastrea. It closely resembles an extant species, Siderastrea siderea, that can form large coral boulders however a little Google image searching brought me to a page with what appears to be a match: S. pliocenica. http://porites.geology.uiowa.edu/database/corals/combined/Siderastreapliocenica.htm It's nice to live in a state where fossils come looking for YOU even when you are not looking for THEM. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 BTW: The aforementioned Siderastrea siderea corals that can still be found throughout the Tropical Western Atlantic can reach much larger sizes as shown here. These photos are from St. Vincent in the eastern Caribbean where I was a couple weeks ago. Sadly, these corals (like most others) are in decline and large specimens are becoming fewer and farther between. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Nice specimen, Ken. http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Search4 Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 While no one can be certain how the coral came to rest in such an unlikely place, we do have some ideas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 And shanked it off into the rough underneath my hibiscus. Would explain those odd golf cart tracks in my front lawn. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Search4 Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Wanted to share a few of mine. You and Chris (plantguy) are the only two I know that take much interest in these. Jeff and I have collected and trade each other a few things but we aren't very knowledgeable with these fossils. This brainI collected from the Caribbean. This is my largest specimen. Collected locally. It's about 20" long and 40 pounds or so. Cut me all to hell carrying out. This one is about 14" completely agatized. It can't from punta gorda. It also hurt real bad carrying out lol. It has some agate but mostly a carbonate cast? Another heavy cast. Not sure bout this one. Agatized though. These 3 were also collected locally. The dogs too, collected locally lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 20 minutes ago, Search4 said: This brain I collected from the Caribbean. You can see why these are called "brain" corals as this one is even noggin shaped. Except for not being divided into hemispheres, this one is very cerebral. As it is modern and not fossil I can state with some certainty that this is Pseudodiploria strigosa (formerly in the genus Diploria but moved into a newly erected and closely related genus based on recent DNA work). These tend to look like this in life. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Very cool find! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Search4 Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 I saw those I Mexico the size of cars in only 30ft of water. Mine is very heavy. I don't know what constitutes as fossilized but its from grand Cayman and weighs about 6lbs. I had about a 50lb specimen but it was confiscated and disposed of back into the ocean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagurus Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 So there really are golf ball fossils!! Ok ,it's really a coral, and Siderastrea pliocenica does look like a good match, but it sure reminds me of the dinosaur egg I found a few years ago when I wrote a poem about it for a TFF contest: Today I found a fossil egg. It's round and hard and white. It's worth a lot of money. I know that I am right. My camera isn't working. The picture's kind of dim. It's also out of focus And I don't know how to trim. I found it on the golf course. It's shiny, not too large. I need to sell it quickly. Can you tell me what to charge? Start the day with a smile and get it over with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Nice find- I like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted April 19, 2017 Author Share Posted April 19, 2017 4 hours ago, Pagurus said: Today I found a fossil egg. It's round and hard and white. It's worth a lot of money. I know that I am right. My camera isn't working. The picture's kind of dim. It's also out of focus And I don't know how to trim. I found it on the golf course. It's shiny, not too large. I need to sell it quickly. Can you tell me what to charge? Love it. Made my evening with that. It's funny because it is so true. Thanks for the chuckle. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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