Fish piece from Marshall sandstone of Michigan

[LisaL]

Hello! I would love to have more info about this interesting fish bit that a paleontologist friend and I found a couple of months ago near Jackson, MI, in a glacial dump of Marshall sandstone. This little cobble was already broken as it appears, and we couldn't locate any other pieces of it. We're certain it's bone, and that it most likely came from the pectoral girdle (or pectoral spine area) of a bony fish. I looked through the list of Mississippian material found in MI from the Geology of Michigan, and noticed that while it describes lots of Chondrichthyes found in early Mississippian rock, no Osteichthyes from the Mississippian are recorded in that book. The closest match my friend suggested was Psarolepis / Andreolepis ( https://www.nature.com/articles/17594 ), but if this is the Marshall sandstone as we are sure it is, he says those genera would be far too old. Any thoughts would be welcome! (P.S. The second photo is a stereophoto.)

 

Thanks,

Lisa

[Fossildude19]

Hello, and welcome to the Forum, Lisa.  

 

That is an awesome find! 

The goniatite on the piece is pretty cool, too. 

 

I agree that it looks like bone/armor, ... and could very well be a piece of cleithrum, but Psarolepis is only known from China, and Andreolepis is only known from Estonia.   

 

 

Maybe someone else can weigh in with a genus that is more likely. 

Welcome again. 

Regards,

 

[ynot]

Welcome to TFF!

Can not help with ID, but -- nice find!

[fossilized6s]

Really nice find. 

 

I know @Missourian has found his fair share of nodule fish bits. Maybe he can help. 

[jdp]

Could it be part of the brush-spine apparatus of a stethacanthid?

[Fossildude19]

23 minutes ago, jdp said:

Could it be part of the brush-spine apparatus of a stethacanthid?

That is a possibility. 

 

[Fossildude19]

@LisaL, 

 

You might try contacting Ted Daeschler. 

 

[LisaL]

Thank you all for the info and for these intriguing clues!! I started thinking that it may be some type of acanthodian. But this sure looks similar to that brush-spine piece, and the stethacantid makes sense, too. I'll try contacting Ted (thank you, Tim) and will keep you posted. Thanks again--this is amazingly interesting.

Edited August 16, 2018 by LisaL

[Fossildude19]

Happy to help. 

This is a very cool fossil. 

Please keep us posted as to whatever more you find out about it.   

[Rob Russell]

Fabulous find!  I need to get back over to my old stomping grounds more often, apparently!

 

Welcome to the forum!  

[crinus]

May I suggest that you contact Matt Friedman at the University of Michigan.   He is a fossil fish expert and local. 

mfriedm at umich.edu

 

Joe

[LisaL]

On 8/16/2018 at 2:31 PM, crinus said:

May I suggest that you contact Matt Friedman at the University of Michigan.   He is a fossil fish expert and local. 

mfriedm at umich.edu

 

Joe

Thank you! I'll send him the pics and report any response.

[LisaL]

Update! I got to show the piece to Matt Friedman today. He confirmed that it's most likely Akmonistion and brought along a cast so I could get a sense of the whole fish. Terrible photos, but I can see how the spine piece fits really well. Matt said my piece would possibly go into a display with this cast. The only other spine like this to come out of Michigan is in the Smithsonian, so this is pretty special! Thanks, all, for your interest and the great leads! 

[ynot]

1 hour ago, LisaL said:

Matt said my piece would possibly go into a display with this cast.

I take it that the piece was donated?

If so You should enter this in the "partners in paleontology" sub forum, and claim Your badge.

[Coco]

Hi,

 

On 8/16/2018 at 2:31 PM, crinus said:

May I suggest that you contact Matt Friedman at the University of Michigan.   He is a fossil fish expert and local. 

mfriedm at umich dot edu

 

Joe

I disadvise strongly to leave a clickable email on a forum because it is going to be got back by all the robots and will be invaded by spams. I am afraid that this person won't be very satisfied with the result. To avoid it, put a blank front and after @

 

Coco

[sixgill pete]

@LisaL What a great find. And as @ynot said, it sounds as if you donated it. If so, kudos to you for recognizing the importance of this find. 

[FossilDAWG]

18 minutes ago, Coco said:

Hi,

 

I disadvise strongly to leave a clickable email on a forum because it is going to be got back by all the robots and will be invaded by spams. I am afraid that this person won't be very satisfied with the result. To avoid it, put a blank front and after @

 

Coco

Taken care of.

Don

[Coco]

 

Coco

[old bones]

What an exciting and special find, @LisaL and 'way to go' on donating it!

[Fossildude19]

Congratulations on a great find, and kudos to you for donating it! 

Thank you for the update. I love happy endings.  

[fossilized6s]

Thanks for the update. Great piece. And thank you for the donation!

[LisaL]

On 8/16/2018 at 11:38 AM, jdp said:

Could it be part of the brush-spine apparatus of a stethacanthid?

You nailed it, jdp. Thank you!

[jdp]

Not a problem! Hope you had a nice visit with Matt!

[deutscheben]

Wow, what a cool find! I went to school at Albion College, so it is very neat to see such an interesting fossil from near there. And bravo for donating it.