Looks a bit like a finger

[jackLindr]

First time I've found one of these. 

 

From Norway close to a place with a lot of trilobites, if that helps. 

 

There may be more of the fossil hidden in the rock, but I'm a bit scared about hammering around it. 

 

Any idea what it might be? 

[oilshale]

Congrats - a nice and uncommon Conulariida. 

Thomas

[Kane]

That would be a very nice conularid. 

 

(meant conulariid - my typo bad )

[TqB]

A fine conulariid! (Note the double "i" by the way.  )

 

It looks great - I'd leave it as it is unless you have micro-prepping tools and experience. It shows an entire face, with mid-line and corners, and there probably isn't much more width to expose.

 

[ricardo]

1 hour ago, jackLindr said:

First time I've found one of these

    Congratulations! Great specimen 

[jackLindr]

Wow! Needless to say, I was pretty excited when I found it, and now I’m even more so!

 

Thanks a lot for your help! Once again I’m impressed how quickly you people can ID things in here.

 

I’ll leave it as it is. 

 

Thanks again!

[Peat Burns]

Whoa!  *Nice* find!

 

[minnbuckeye]

Nice conulariid! Does anyone have an example showing it's pearl??? I'd love to see one so I watch for them when I find  conulariids. Would you have  to sacrifice the conulariid to get to the possibility of finding a pearl? If so, I will let jackLinder go first!!!!!! Actually most of the ones I find are partials, so they exposed to the inside already.

 

 Mike

 

Pearls  From wikipedia

Conulariids produced pearls within their shells, similar to the way molluscs such as oysters, other pelecypods, and some gastropods do today. These pearls give a clue as to the internal anatomy of the conulariid animal. But due to their calcium phosphate composition, their crystal structure, and their extreme age, these pearls tend to be rather unattractive for use in or as decorative objects

[abyssunder]

Nice conulariid!

[minnbuckeye]

Piranha posted this a few years ago. it answers my questions pretty well!!  Posted December 7, 2015

Babcock, L.E. (1990).
Conulariid Pearls. pp. 68-71
IN: Evolutionary Paleobiology of Behavior and Coevolution.
Elsevier Scientific Publishing, 725 pp.



Pearls are reported here for the first time in the extinct animal phylum Conulariida. Representatives of the Conulariida are characterized by an elongate, four-sided pyramidal exoskeleton composed of calcium phosphate. The exoskeleton has a weak bilateral symmetry and numerous pairs of transverse rods supporting a multilayered integument (Babcock and Feldmann, 1986). Unquestioned conulariids have been found in rocks of Early Ordovician to Late Triassic age. Pearls (Fig. 52A-D) are rare and have been found in only two species, Paraconularia crustula (White) from the Pennsylvanian of Johnson County, Kansas (USNM 435350), and P. magna (Ries) from the Pennsylvanian of Okfuskee County, Oklahoma (USNM 435351, 435352). They are found adhering either to inner layers of integument in examples having a partially exfoliated exoskeleton (Fig. 52A, B,) or to steinkerns where the exoskeleton has been removed. Examined pearls seem to be of the blister type but some may have initially been cyst pearls that were later incorporated into the inner layers of the exoskeleton. The maximum number of pearls found in one specimen is three and the largest such structure is 2 mm in diameter. Conulariid pearls are composed of numerous fine concentric laminae (Fig. 52C, D) of calcium phosphate. Investigation under high magnification revealed that the laminae are cryptocrystalline. Evidently, these phosphatic concretions formed by the sequential deposition of thin layers of collophane around foreign irritants that affected either the internal exoskeletal surface or soft tissues that bounded it. The irritants that stimulated the formation of pearls are not known. By analogy with pearls formed naturally by present-day mollusks, however, it is probable that many developed around parasites or boring endobionts. Sediment grains may also have served as nuclei.