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Cretaceous marine mystery item


Wrangellian

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Anyone recognize this thing? It spans about an inch (25mm) from thicker end to outer edge of curve. Probably less than 2mm thick.

Not from my usual Mt Tzuhalem site, but same fauna in the Haslam Fm of the Cowichan Valley.

 

 

DSC_0173 75pc.jpg

DSC_0174 75pc.jpg

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The only other time I found anything like it was these two which have been donated to the RBCM so I can't take any better pics for you. At the time I thought maybe Tessarolax (snail) spine, but wasn't sure otherwise I would have thrown it away. These two have a distinct polygonal cross-section - the one above, not so much, but I think they're related if not the same.

The only thing that comes to mind now is some kind of worm tube...

 

 

Tz239 shr.jpg

Tz248 det.jpg

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8 minutes ago, fossisle said:

Pine needle?

Sure looks like one now that you mention it.

Not saying it is, just that it looks like one!

We're pines previlant during the Cretaceous?

 

 

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Hmmm... Not sure. They seem more substantial than a pine needle to me. Also, about 2/3 of the way along the first item there is something like a node, which I think would rule out any kind of pine needle. I won't rule out 'plant' though, but I was thinking 'animal' up til now.

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A type of tube worm, similar to tetraserpula canteriata ?

 

Quite common in our Cretaceous deposits in Denmark

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From my perspective which is likely way off base: Could it be a bivalve that broke with the splitting of the rock, so that what we see is the broken edge of the shell with more of it imbedded under the matrix?

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We sure this isn’t simply a cross section of a bivalve, brachiopod, or Gastropod?

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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No, it's not a cross-section. It has a more or less tubular shape, with the aforementioned irregularities. I still can't tell if it's plant or animal but I like the Tetraserpula idea! going to follow that lead now...

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14 hours ago, Phevo said:

A type of tube worm, similar to tetraserpula canteriata ?

 

Quite common in our Cretaceous deposits in Denmark

I found this pic of T. canteriata from http://fossilien-steine.npage.de/fossilienderlueneburgerkreide.html

I think we're onto something. These are thicker than mine (relative to length), but similar cross-section and overall curve.

 

Tetraserpula canteriata.jpg

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Can you take a close up picture of the texture? From what I can see it looks a lot like the broken edge of a bivalve, but I can’t see the texture in your pic.

The bottom pic looks like the bivalve shell on the bottom and then the other half is above it with matrix or whatever filled the middle.

I guess you can look at a pic of the texture of mine and compare yours to it. These are small Inoceramid shell fragments. The one on the left is a stacked conglomerate of shell fragments. You can’t tell in the pic, but the gray on the stack is pyrite.

E15CDAD8-3742-431E-A3D8-6E5DC6D9B02D.thumb.jpeg.e40627a854b1e3ae9822a2491c5621fc.jpeg

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I think this fits pretty well, also shows the changing cross section 

The ones I find here are usually broken into several pieces as they are quite fragile, so I wouldn't expect yours to necessarily be complete either

 

image.jpeg.70a1dfa13dff4f1151d897073200b0f5.jpeg

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21 hours ago, KimTexan said:

Can you take a close up picture of the texture? From what I can see it looks a lot like the broken edge of a bivalve, but I can’t see the texture in your pic.

The bottom pic looks like the bivalve shell on the bottom and then the other half is above it with matrix or whatever filled the middle.

I guess you can look at a pic of the texture of mine and compare yours to it. These are small Inoceramid shell fragments. The one on the left is a stacked conglomerate of shell fragments. You can’t tell in the pic, but the gray on the stack is pyrite.

E15CDAD8-3742-431E-A3D8-6E5DC6D9B02D.thumb.jpeg.e40627a854b1e3ae9822a2491c5621fc.jpeg

I've got that same stuff around here, I'm plenty familiar with it. It's not that.

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18 hours ago, BobWill said:

Maybe it's just more like a worm feeding trace than a tube.

It's definitely an object, not a trace.. maybe my pics aren't very good (I thought they were, for a change)!

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14 hours ago, Phevo said:

I think this fits pretty well, also shows the changing cross section 

The ones I find here are usually broken into several pieces as they are quite fragile, so I wouldn't expect yours to necessarily be complete either

 

image.jpeg.70a1dfa13dff4f1151d897073200b0f5.jpeg

Wish I could see a larger version of this pic! But the curve of that tube is a very good fit for my first item at top of page.

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1 hour ago, Wrangellian said:

maybe my pics aren't very good

I think it is something unusual and not the quality of the pictures that is hindering the ID.

It is just to rare and none of Us know what to make of it.

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.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Wrangellian said:

Wish I could see a larger version of this pic! But the curve of that tube is a very good fit for my first item at top of page.

Here it is. :)

 

KupriyanovaIppolitov2015_SMALLSIZE.thumb.jpg.ee0826e9c687358694e31ccd79ea8318.jpg

exerpt from E. Kupriyanova & A. Ippolitov. 2015. Deep-sea serpulids (Annelida: Polychaeta) in tetragonal tubes: on a tube convergence path from the Mesozoic to Recent. Zootaxa. 4044(2): 151-200

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7 hours ago, ynot said:

I think it is something unusual and not the quality of the pictures that is hindering the ID.

It is just to rare and none of Us know what to make of it.

I know, it's not something I come across very often either, whether I'm out collecting or browsing TFF. But pics (mine, at least) can never show you what you'd see in hand. People are making all kinds of interpretations that I can rule out because they are limited to my pics and I have the actual item to look at!

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6 hours ago, abyssunder said:

Thanks, I guess I still only have the curve of that tube supporting me. But the title and abstract talk about serpuilids with tetragonal tubes... Interesting

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