Jump to content

Mold Fossil of Shells?


Bronzviking

Recommended Posts

Hi, I'm a rock collector/hunter and found many of these shell imprints in limestone rocks on the beach. This one looked like a bullseye or pictogram. Is this considered a fossil? Does anyone know what type of shell and/or geological time period? Thanks!

DSC07256.JPG

DSC07248.JPG

DSC07249.JPG

DSC07252.JPG

DSC07253.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice. 

The first one looks like the imprint of a gastropod and the others are bits of shells or their impressions from clams or maybe brachiopods. 

Which beach?  

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with @Tidgy's Dad. The first looks like a Gastropod impression, the second looks like a brachiopod impression. I’m far from an expert, so maybe someone else will be able to chime in. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is one fossil, showing both sides and has three different shell imprints. Found in Tampa Bay, Florida. Thanks for the feedback! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting find! I've looked at this a couple times and understand the gastropod suggested ID for that spiral one but it strikes me as similar to some of the Eocene Ocala Formation large forams I have. Has anyone collected further up north and have a decent photo of those? Not sure the others in the rock can be identified because of their fragmentary nature.  

 

Regards, Chris 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure it's a fairly young fossil gastropod. For a start, it's a low helix rather than a flat spiral (plus the whorls are too wide for any nummulitids that I've seen), and secondly I'm sure I've seen some living gastropods with similar shell shape. Unfortunately I just can't think what it was..! Anyone seen a live one this shape?

 

If it is Tertiary or Quaternary, the other bits are almost certainly bivalve... but we'll never know what. You'll have to go find some more, Bronzviking!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice find!

I agree with Chris @Plantguy that this one looks like something from the Ocala Limestone (Eocene). During my trip to Florida, I went to the Santa Fe River, and among the Pleistocene bones there were quite a few small pieces with exactly the same matrix and similar shell pieces and imprints. Then again, seeing it is a beach find (it would still be useful if you told us which one!) it could have been washed ashore from other sediments. 

 

It probably won't be possible to ID down to a species level the little bivalves scattered around the piece. But the main big thing does have a spiral, so chances are it's from a gastropod. My best guess is that it is the imprint of a shell within the Liotiidae family (Mollusca - Gastropoda - Vetigastropoda - Trochoidea - Trochida). I'm mainly saying this due to the fact that the imprint looks flat on the photo, and not pressed inwards. But just to be sure that it is flat indeed, maybe it would help if you took a photo of the imprint from the side, that way we can get a better idea of the relief of the specimen. (If it is a little more concave than what it seems here, then I would change my guess to a shell within the Conidae, likely a Conus species). 

 

Best regards,

 

Max

Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, JohnBrewer said:

If it's me you wanted to tag, make sure you don't forget the hyphen ;) 

The person you tagged here joined and left the forum way before either of us did (and he wasn't very active), so I'm supposing it's me you wanted to tag. 

Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in the foraminifera imprint camp.  Last year,  my daughter and I found some foraminiferans in a rock from Florida sent to us as a result of an auction win - the specimens weren't as big as yours, but they looked very similar.  I'll see if I can find the thread here on TFF...

 

Here it is!  The first picture contains a foram:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Spongy Joe said:

I'm sure it's a fairly young fossil gastropod. For a start, it's a low helix rather than a flat spiral (plus the whorls are too wide for any nummulitids that I've seen), and secondly I'm sure I've seen some living gastropods with similar shell shape. Unfortunately I just can't think what it was..! Anyone seen a live one this shape?

 

If it is Tertiary or Quaternary, the other bits are almost certainly bivalve... but we'll never know what. You'll have to go find some more, Bronzviking!

 

5 hours ago, Max-fossils said:

Nice find!

I agree with Chris @Plantguy that this one looks like something from the Ocala Limestone (Eocene). During my trip to Florida, I went to the Santa Fe River, and among the Pleistocene bones there were quite a few small pieces with exactly the same matrix and similar shell pieces and imprints. Then again, seeing it is a beach find (it would still be useful if you told us which one!) it could have been washed ashore from other sediments. 

 

It probably won't be possible to ID down to a species level the little bivalves scattered around the piece. But the main big thing does have a spiral, so chances are it's from a gastropod. My best guess is that it is the imprint of a shell within the Liotiidae family (Mollusca - Gastropoda - Vetigastropoda - Trochoidea - Trochida). I'm mainly saying this due to the fact that the imprint looks flat on the photo, and not pressed inwards. But just to be sure that it is flat indeed, maybe it would help if you took a photo of the imprint from the side, that way we can get a better idea of the relief of the specimen. (If it is a little more concave than what it seems here, then I would change my guess to a shell within the Conidae, likely a Conus species). 

 

Best regards,

 

Max

 

3 hours ago, Monica said:

I'm in the foraminifera imprint camp.  Last year,  my daughter and I found some foraminiferans in a rock from Florida sent to us as a result of an auction win - the specimens weren't as big as yours, but they looked very similar.  I'll see if I can find the thread here on TFF...

 

Here it is!  The first picture contains a foram:

 

Thanks all... I see the spire depth Spongy Joe has pointed out...so I went in the garage and extracted a Architectonica from the Tamiami formation  that I have that has the very modest spire but possibly too much ornamentation..I've got some others ones elsewhere to go look at/compare...Some of the other gastropods also have low spires as well. ...Here is a comparison panorama of the unknown the Architectonica and also a shot of a cross section of an Eocene Foram from the Fl Natural History site

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/P1180094.jpg

 

5af84877f3359_Testcomparison.thumb.jpg.e84accde2314154715dad798f12efa52.jpg

Regards, Chris 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Plantguy said:

 

 

Thanks all... I see the spire depth Spongy Joe has pointed out...so I went in the garage and extracted a Architectonica from the Tamiami formation  that I have that has the very modest spire but possibly too much ornamentation..I've got some others ones elsewhere to go look at/compare...Some of the other gastropods also have low spires as well. ...Here is a comparison panorama of the unknown the Architectonica and also a shot of a cross section of an Eocene Foram from the Fl Natural History site

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/P1180094.jpg

 

 

Regards, Chris 

3

Surprisingly (to me; I don't know much about forams) that foram also has a spiral...

I'm still in the gastropod camp though. The Architectonica does seem to fit rather well.

 

(Considering it's gastropod) If the spiral is concave then it will probably be really hard to find the correct ID, because many things will match. Conus shells, Architectonicidae shells, and countless other kinds of gastropods would be possible matches. That's why I was kinda hoping it would be flat; that way IDing would be more definite (Liotiidae). 

 

Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MAX: This was found on Honeymoon Island, Florida and I just read it's located in the Tampa Member of the Arcadia Formation if this helps. The imprint is very shallow so I couldn't get a side shot.


Thanks for everybody's time, photo's and research! It was much appreciated and very informative. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/13/2018 at 12:01 PM, Max-fossils said:

Surprisingly (to me; I don't know much about forams) that foram also has a spiral...

I'm still in the gastropod camp though. The Architectonica does seem to fit rather well.

 

(Considering it's gastropod) If the spiral is concave then it will probably be really hard to find the correct ID, because many things will match. Conus shells, Architectonicidae shells, and countless other kinds of gastropods would be possible matches. That's why I was kinda hoping it would be flat; that way IDing would be more definite (Liotiidae). 

 

I agree with regard to shells like Conus which was what popped into my mind when I first saw this.  This could be an imprint of the spire of a conical / conispiral gastropod with a shallow spire and a large, deep body whorl and not limited to taxa that are more or less planispiral.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Surprisingly, it could also be the imprint of a tree snail...the ones I've collected are Caracolus marginella. they live on trees at the waters edge and frequently fall into the water...I've recovered recent ones, as well as similar looking imprints from pleistocene era fossilized mud. Just throwing it out as another possibility reminding us of the complexity of nature. 

pleurodontidae_snails02.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Can't help, but very nice pic Dalmayshun !

 

Coco

----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

Badges-IPFOTH.jpg.f4a8635cda47a3cc506743a8aabce700.jpg Badges-MOTM.jpg.461001e1a9db5dc29ca1c07a041a1a86.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would call the specimen in question Coquina .

 

" A well-cemented coquina is classified as a biosparite according to the Folk classification of sedimentary rocks. " - Wikipedia

" 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

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...