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I went on my first real dig yesterday at the Ernst Quarries of Bakersfield. I won't say it was easy, but it was pretty rewarding. Aside from a bunch of very small shark's teeth, I found a fossilized piece of a stingray barb grinding-plate, and this particular piece. At first I thought it was a tooth from some ancient fish that had teeth that looked like tusks. After looking at it for a second more, I realized that it was something else. Crinoid came to mind. Being a newbie, I just wanted to get verification of this pieces "crinoidness", or lack thereof. Is it a crinoid fossil, and is it common in places like Bakersfield oil country? Many thanks, learned fossil-folks, et. al. Cheers.

It is in Yangquan, Shanxi province, which is a known for its CP coal mine ( the best in China) and fossils. This is the well known Taiyuan Formation (late philadelphian, late C early P) . Tons of marine stuff, you have to literally walk on the crinoids and brachiopods calcite, yet a few dozen meters away you see the land plant fossils like cordaits. I saw crinoid stem pieces in all shaps, round rings, roud rings with radiant rays, eclips rings, penta rings, and square and rectangle pieces ( one in the foto), as well as internal molds. They are every where scattered. I have little knowledge about it. I wonder if I could get any help here, like possible ID, or if there is any on-line place to learn. I only have some generic paleotology book and a small chapter on crinoids fossils, and only a few sketchy words for crinoid stem in CP period.

While I find interest in every fossil my daughter and I find, I’m feeling a bit frustrated at finding only Crinoids. Yes, I think they’re cool, and I don’t want to be ungrateful, but I’m getting a bit discouraged.. I’d like to find something other than a Crinoid. Now, admittedly, I only know certain places to look, so that’s why I’m reaching out for help. We’ve primarily looked in creek beds, and along the trails we walk. I’m in Boone County, MO. Can anyone give us any tips on other places to look where we might find something other than a Crinoid? We’re new to fossil hunting, so honestly any tips you have will be well received and we’d be so grateful for them. Thank you in advance. (photos for attention.)

Hey, I hope this is the right forum! I’m new to TFF, so idk if this is allowed or not, but figured I’d give it a shot. Admin, if not allowed, please delete and let me know. Thanks!! I’m curious to see your favorite piece in your collection. Post a picture of your favorite find, and tell me a little bit about it. What time period is it from? Where did you find it? (I.E., US, England, etc.) Is it rare? Why is it your favorite find? I’ve got a couple of favorites, but I’ll just post one. This rock in particular is teeming with history! On this one rock alone there are fossils of Crinoids, some with, what I believe to be, pinnules still attached. It’s got fossilized shells, imprints of shells, Crinoid stems, etc. Its my favorite because it’s just got so much history packed in to it! It was found in Boone County, MO., USA. I believe it to be from the Mississippian Era. These are all found on the same rock. (I’ll add some more pictures to the comments.) If I’m wrong in my guess on what they are, please correct me! I look forward to seeing your favorite find!

Can anyone confirm this for me? I believe it to be a top view of part of a Crinoid. It was found in a creek bed in Boone County, MO. I believe it to be from the Mississippian Era. It looks to me to be two of the arms laying down, as if you were looking at the Crinoid from the top. Am I accurate in this? It is super small, at maybe 1/4 of an inch big at the opening, though it goes maybe an inch deep. These are the clearest photos I could get of it, as it’s dark in there, and it’s so small. The opening measures 1/8th of an inch tall. It is 1/4th of an inch wide, and from the top of the opening to the bottom, crystallized circle part, it measures 1/2 an inch.

I found what look like worm fossils among a bunch of crinoid fossils and a few shells. Could you explain what these are? They seem much larger than the crinoid fossils. Seems like one end of the worm and the other end. I found smaller ones of one end, like knob ends.

Hey I was wondering if the stuff next to the crinoid stem is part of the plant and not just smaller stems. All I find are crinoid stems so I was wondering if this was part of the actual crinoid. Found In Cincinnati.

I believe these are holdfasts?... not real good ones but possibly if I clean them up a bit.

I can't seem to find an ID for this find. I believe this may be a siphuncle. What do you guys think? The "V" shaped sutures are really throwing me off. Has anyone seen a straight shelled cephalopod with this "V" pattern? Kinda neat how you can see how this was buried, preserving one side as it weathered the other. Then along came a dozen crinoids or so a used it as a nice base.

Does anyone know what this is? apparently it is from the banks of Lake Sakakawea, Tobacco Gardens, outside of Watford City, North Dakota.

It is very rare that a crinoid calyx is found a Penn Dixie. I was at Penn Yesterday in the blistering heat 39 Celsius and found a small calyx (23mm * 11 mm). I have a suspicion what this is but don't want to taint others before hearing their opinion. This was found in the top of the E. rana trilobite layer in the Windom shale. I prepped it this morning and the preservation is much better than the 1 other calyx that I have ever found there which I gave to DevonianDigger earlier this year. Here are a series of pictures that try to give the different views. There is the remains of one arm but it is disarticulated from the actual calyx.

I found several rocks/fossils in the creek bordering my property in middle Tennessee today. (Mississippian, St. Louis Limestone and Warsaw Limestone) My favorite is a little one which has a few tiny fossils in it. I am particularly hoping to have the area circled in red in one of the pictures identified.

This specimen was found amongst shells and bryozoans. I am assuming crinoid but my knowledge on them isnt that good. What are the small little worm looking things next to the stem?

I took my 4 year old Son geode and fossil hunting near the Missouri, Iowa, Illinois borders last weekend. We had a blast and found a lot of cool stuff. I found this calyx in the Warsaw formation which is Mississippian. It's obviously not done being prepped, but i figured there might be enough showing to get your opinions. It's actually been quite a challenging prep and may take some time to finish. I was thinking a possible Agaricocrinus sp., but it doesn't quite fit the bill. I can't find anything that looks identical. Any help is appreciated. @crinus @Crinoid Queen you guys still around? As found Some prep

While on vacation at a (rented) beach house last week, I noticed that the (marble?) kitchen countertop had some interesting shapes contained within the stone. Many of the shapes have the appearance of cross-sections of crinoid stems. I know that marble is a metamorphic rock, so if the original rock had contained fossils, could there still be recognizable remnants of the fossils? Please let me know if I'm thinking along the right lines, and whether these look like crinoid stems to you. The reference coin has a diameter of 21 mm; I have no idea where the countertop rock was quarried.

OK - here's another one from Cincinnati, possible Crinoid imprint?

Hello, I think this is a crinoid, but am hoping somebody will let me know which type? I found it in a creek in middle Tennessee.

This summer has been great for me. After learning so much about fossils on the forum I decided to convince my wife to make a few side trips on our way from Ft Myers to Shawano, Wisconsin for our 50th anniversary celebration...she has no interest in fossils, but indulges me, so you can see why our marriage would last 50 years. At anyrate, our first stop was the little Conasauga formation near Dalton, Ga...north of Atlanta. I've been there before, and so decided to simply fill a box with pieces of mudstone to take back for door prizes over the year at my local fossil club meetings. That was fun because I know almost every little chunk will produce some nice trilobite fossil. From there I had convinced my wife to stop at the Jersey Road cut by the Harsha bridge over the Ohio River. That road cut is even larger than the well known one I hunt near St Leon, Indiana. I had stopped there because I had read there were edrioasteroids there, it having been part of the sea floor....oops...The road cut , like many, cuts through lots of differernt layers...and is terraced. From the images I had found on line, I decided to hunt the very top section. The formation I was looking for was the Bellevue Formation, but I have no idea where it was. The site was overwhelming...no, that is a wrong word, awe inspiring is better. I didn't have alot of time, so I looked and carried out a backpack of 70 # or so....of layered sections so I could crack them at home. (And that pattern of operation would serve me the rest of the trip as well. ) I will post a few of my interesting pieces for this site on this note, nothing great, but interesting to me. From there, we drove to New Salem Illinois to avoid the Chicago corrider. On our way from New Salem north, I realized we were close to the site of the famous Mazon Creek nodules. Once again, my lovely wife, agreed to stop, but on our way home. We had rented a house on a lake near where we both grew up, and had our children's families come stay with us for a week of fishing, and visiting. Great time. My children live in Michigan and Maine, and my grandchildren rarely get to see their cousins unless we arrange things like this. So it was gratiying to have them all so thoroughly enjoy each other. We had a great time. After the cottage, we decided to head through the middle of the state for a 4 day visit to my sister near Madison. ( me checking out possible future fossil sites and my son-in-law who is an avid bird watcher, hoping to see the endangered Whooping Crane. I had hoped to be able to fossil hunt near Madison and had asked on the forum for help...being told to look along highway J. There wasn't time. Though we did underetake a trip to Cave of the Mounds near Dodgeville, and lucky me, on the way back to Madison, I noticed a quarry by the side of the road. We stopped and I was able to look for a half hour, picked up three stones from a discard pile for inspection and cracking later, and headed on. Leaving Madison the next day, I was excited to be able to visit the Mazon Creek site...I had been told , nodules are hard to find in summer with all the overgrowth, but wanted to make this bucket list stop anyway. Again, as on the Ohio, the site can be overwhelming. Having asked for a good place at the reception desk, and following the advice I had received from the Forum associates, I headed out. Once again, I wish I had someone along who knew what to look for...I mean, when you are picking up rocks to open later, you don't want to pick up and carry a bunch of things that are rocks, and not nodules. To hedge my bet a bit, I decided to crack a few rocks I thought promishing, they looked somewhat like they had layers. If I found something, I'd be ahead of the game in knowing what type of rock to pick up....Success....I cracked a rock along a seam and there inside is "something"....LOL, I know, I know. Can't tell what it is , but it is something, so I picked up a bag of similarly looking rocks and headed back to car to add yet another collection to my growing car rockpile for searching later. By the way, many of you suggested the best time to hunt is in early spring or fall, and that sometimes the workers plow areas to upturn nodules at the Mazon site. Where I hunted was a washout from rain. And the receptionist said the rangers sometimes burn the vegetation along the edges of the ravines at these wash outs so they don't get so overgrown as to prohibit collecting....I came across one such ravine, and could have stayed all day. Well, I am back home safely, now planning my annual trip to the Apalachicola and Chipola rivers to search for Miocene shells. I am back on my home turf and somewhat know what I am doing here. I believe that is one great advantage for the forum as well....that is, to be able to meet someone in another part of the country who is familiar with an area to hunt, and then hunt together. We often see such trips happen, and I am so proud to be a part of a group that accomplishes such service to one another. Now that i am familiar with the areas, I too , may well arrange a trip with a buddy, when I have more time to explore. The few images attached are from the Jersey cut. I thought the crinoid stem, with little bumps around the outside was interested...and the crinoid stem center with stalk material around it was really interesting to me. While it doesn't show in the photo, under my loop, the material around the core is made up of a pattern like that of a sunflower seed head...intricate, and wonderful to contemplate. The other hashplate has those little triangular cross-sectioned needle like pieces...and I don't know what they are. I am hoping someone lets me know. Thanks. (oh, and one Whooper)