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Pipe-Like Fossilized or Modern Calcareous Sponge?


Bronzviking

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I have another oddity here. Found on a Tampa Bay beach in Florida. It is about 3 inches long, brittle but light weight and hollow, with one end open and one end sealed. The side hole or spout attaches to the larger opening. I did some research and it resembles a calcareous sponge. Is it a sponge? Is it a fossil or modern? Thanks as always to a great group of people! Please see 5 pics below.

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DSC08072.JPG

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1 minute ago, ynot said:

Looks sponge to Me.

Is there anyway to tell if it is a fossil or not?

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One would say bryozoan. :)

" 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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2 minutes ago, abyssunder said:

One would say bryozoan. :)

Oh no we're back on that bandwagon, Lol. It does look like bryozoan cover on the sealed end but I'm hoping for the tube to be sponge. :)

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Take a look how a bryozoan may grow around a gastropod. :)

 

5c43a497de105_Bryolith_(Banc_dArguin_Mauritania).thumb.jpg.01d979615f490784bc7e414a3acfd1e9.jpg

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" 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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4 minutes ago, abyssunder said:

Take a look how a bryozoan may grow around a gastropod. :)

I like mine better. Hippoporidra from the Lee Creek Mine, Pleistocene. One of these days I’ll prep out some more.

1EAF1AEE-67E7-4F3A-9C76-94129AA207C0.jpeg

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Yup, a pretty nice example! :)
Here's another one from Taylor, 2015.

 

Taylor2015hermitcrabDeposits.thumb.jpg.08f306b8c6cf3e29f4e54093a385a054.jpg

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" 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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32 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Yep, we've been here before. ;)

Anyone notice the worm tubes in the bryozoan patch ?

Yep, they show up quite commonly down here in places...good eyes!!...

I like the various associations they cause...the little guys seem to grow on anything and everything!

 

Regards, Chris 

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1 hour ago, Al Dente said:

I like mine better. Hippoporidra from the Lee Creek Mine, Pleistocene. One of these days I’ll prep out some more.

 

 

55 minutes ago, abyssunder said:

Yup, a pretty nice example! :)
Here's another one from Taylor, 2015.

 

 

You all are making me want to go work/cut some in half that I have...stop it! LOL.

Regards, Chris 

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17 minutes ago, Plantguy said:

You all are making me want to go work/cut some in half that I have...stop it! LOL.

:hearty-laugh:

" 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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1 hour ago, Al Dente said:

It is a bryozoan that grew around a twig-like object.

An object like what, a coral tube? Can you please explain to me about bryozoans. I read about them on wiki but still don't fully understand. Thanks!

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1 hour ago, Rockwood said:

Yep, we've been here before. ;)

Anyone notice the worm tubes in the bryozoan patch ?

Good eye! What do they tell us?

tube worms.jpg

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( It is finger-like...but I can't see corallites.
They could encrust anything they may consider a good substrate for proper living conditions.) :)

" 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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23 minutes ago, Bronzviking said:

Good eye! What do they tell us?

The bryozoans were probably little buddies to the worms providing structure and cover to the worm colony and scraps and defense for the bryozoans. 

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9 hours ago, Bronzviking said:

Can you please explain to me about bryozoans.

I don't claim to be an expert, but these creatures fascinate me. They seem to behave almost as intermediates between a colony of individuals and a multi cellular organism. 

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13 hours ago, Bronzviking said:

Can you please explain to me about bryozoans.

They are colonial organisms like corals but are more complex than corals. The openings that the individuals poke out of are much smaller in bryozoans ( called zooids) than in corals (called corallites). The skeleton of bryozoans can take many shapes, sometimes a single species can have different forms making identification by form difficult (corals do this too). Most are marine but there is a large freshwater type that can be found in lakes and rivers.

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6 hours ago, Rockwood said:

I don't claim to be an expert, but these creatures fascinate me. They seem to behave almost as intermediates between a colony of individuals and a multi cellular organism. 

Often some zooids function as infrastructure for the betterment of the feeding function of the colony and don't feed for themselves.

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18 hours ago, abyssunder said:

Take a look how a bryozoan may grow around a gastropod. :)

 

5c43a497de105_Bryolith_(Banc_dArguin_Mauritania).thumb.jpg.01d979615f490784bc7e414a3acfd1e9.jpg

That is pretty cool looking.

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If you wish to learn a little more on bryozoan there is a chapter in this book on them. The book is Index Fossils of North America. it is old but generally very informative.

https://archive.org/details/IndexFossi_00_Shim/page/n9

You can also type in “fossil Bryozoa” in the archive.org search field and come up with many publications on the topic. There are some for the Gulf of Mexico, but I’m not sure how helpful they’d be to you at this point.

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5 hours ago, Al Dente said:

They are colonial organisms like corals but are more complex than corals. The openings that the individuals poke out of are much smaller in bryozoans ( called zooids) than in corals (called corallites). The skeleton of bryozoans can take many shapes, sometimes a single species can have different forms making identification by form difficult (corals do this too). Most are marine but there is a large freshwater type that can be found in lakes and rivers.

Thanks for explaining it in English, Lol. So is my Bryozoan a fossil or modern? Thanks!

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23 hours ago, Bronzviking said:

Is there anyway to tell if it is a fossil or not?

 

1 hour ago, Bronzviking said:

. So is my Bryozoan a fossil or modern?

That is the question of the year.

Not sure it can be determined by pictures.

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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26 minutes ago, ynot said:

 

That is the question of the year.

Not sure it can be determined by pictures.

Agreed. Without preserved (and observed) front walls especially, it would be tough.

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