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Arkona/Hungry Hollow mystery - possible fish vert?


Greg.Wood

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I found this at Hungry Hollow in Arkona, Ontario. Sadly I can't remember which formation I pulled it from but my understanding is they are all Devonian age.

 

It may just be a coral fragment but I've heard fish bones can be found. Any ideas?

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I am siding with caution to think this is a coral fragment. This does look like Hungry Hollow Member of the Widder Fm. But this is an interesting piece!

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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I'm thinking this might be a holdfast, possibly bryozoan.  I have one nearly identical from the Silica formation.  When I first found it years ago, I thought it might be fishy, too.  I'll try to remember to dig it out tonight and post a pic.  Whatever it is, its morphology is distinct and conserved.

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2 hours ago, Peat Burns said:

I'm thinking this might be a holdfast, possibly bryozoan.  I have one nearly identical from the Silica formation.  When I first found it years ago, I thought it might be fishy, too.  I'll try to remember to dig it out tonight and post a pic.  Whatever it is, its morphology is distinct and conserved.

 

1 hour ago, Northern Sharks said:

Bryozoan holdfast was my first thought as well. Something like this http://www.crinus.info/otherfossils/data/rete.htm

Definitely see the resemblance, thanks guys!

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Placoderm fish plates, and fish (shark?) teeth such as Deltodus, can be found at Arkona.  However I believe the internal skeleton was cartilaginous, and at any rate I have never seen nor heard of fish vertebrae from Arkona or any of the Hamilton Group formations.

 

I believe your specimen is a coral or bryozoan holdfast.

 

Don

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I'm wondering if can't be a sponge.

" 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

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15 hours ago, Greg.Wood said:

 

Definitely see the resemblance, thanks guys!

Sorry for the delay.  I forgot to dig this out last night.  Here's my holdfast from the Silica Formation of Ohio.

 

BryozoanHoldfast.jpg.905226696849cd601f49060e7e68ffdb.jpg

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Can we have pictures of both specimens revealing how they look seen from the top?

 

Here is a hexactinellid sponge base/root:

 

gallery_11087_1603_29706.thumb.jpg.26ee4c45a183429e619db8bbd0369af4.jpg

picture from here

 

" 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

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/8/2017 at 5:05 PM, abyssunder said:

Can we have pictures of both specimens revealing how they look seen from the top?

Here are a few different angles

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Definitely a holdfast from a Fenestellid type bryozoan. The bottom part that was attached to the substrate or some other hard anchor is the rounded part with the finger like protrusions. The top part has just the basal remnants of the supports that would have grown upward and outward to form a fan or basket shape. 

 

_16C6631.thumb.JPG.af8e7657f118d6e2fafa7f4058deeba7.JPG.cd96efd286bb47d555db70f031ca42ef.JPG

Untitled-1.jpg.9981b6d3d7f89a636c8148d48c230302.jpg

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-Dave

__________________________________________________

Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPhee

If I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPhee

Check out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/

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The new images rule out the possibility of a sponge, I agree.
It's a nice find. Congrats! :)

" 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

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