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We took a spring trip to Florida in March and it started off on the right foot when we turned down the road to our motel and saw this street sign! Hopefully a good omen for things to come. Many sharks teeth were collected from the Gulf of Mexico's surf. The shorebirds, including this Willet, loved following us along, they looking for a snack and us looking for teeth. As much fun sifting shark's teeth in the surf is, my preferred objective was to slip off to Cookie Cutter Creek and collect micro matrix in hopes of finding a few teeth from Isistius brasiliensis, the cookie cutter shark. A picture of the creek show it is recovering from the dredging that took place a few years ago. So hopes of accomplishing my goal ran high. Success was not realized until returning home and processing some matrix. There it was, nestled between the grains of sand! Most of the micro matrix brought home will be given away to those who enjoy the dainty finds within it. Also found in the matrix was this vertebrae from a TINY mammal. Even smaller than the shark tooth. In addition to the creek hunt and beach combing, I did explore some land exposures looking to add new specimens to my large collection of Tamiami gastropods, corals and bivalves. I will burden you with just a few odd ones that I liked. First up is a weathered Strombus with a coral colony and an oyster using it as home. Staying with the same theme, here is a Nassarius overwhelmed by the attachment of barnicles. The next gastropod, Melongena subcoronata also came as a "twofer". When it came to cleaning this shell up, I was surprised that it had an occupant, and it wasn't a hermit crab! And no I did not take the bug home. While collecting fossil shells, I came across this nice Mako tooth, I believe Carcharodon hastalis is correct. It was a pleasant surprise. This year I had the privilege of fossilin with a few friends, one being a forum member, @Shellseeker. I so enjoy hoofing it through the wild Floridian forest to get to out of the way locations. And the selected location paid off! The hunt was once again the highlight of my trip! Plenty of nice fossils were found but unfortunately, I somehow misplaced, or lost as my wife always points out, the best of my finds. If or WHEN they are located, I will add to this trip report. In the mean time, my hunting partners gifted these gems to me. Tapir tooth And finally this prize from Jack. Thanks so much! I mistakenly thought these teeth were silky shark. @Al Dente said "Nice finds. These teeth are Negaprion." The only flaw in this fossil foray was loosing one of our members in the woods as we left for home. Jack, did you ever find him or is he still out there? LOL We did head north for a few days to the Crystal Springs/ Yankeetown area for fossilin and Manatee watching. The /Crystal River, being spring fed stays warm in the winter months and attract Manatees fleeing the cold Gulf of Mexico water. A photo of the Crystal River. And a photo of us snorkeling with Manatee! Echinoids are what the area is known for. The most common is the urchin, Eupatagus. This "double" was my favorite! A much smaller, unidentified urchin. We took a few hours on our return trip to visit Honeymoon Bay in search of geodized coral. Success was had, but a friend is prepping the coral. I will show it off later. It is special. As we trekked south, a stop was made at Norman Love's Confections in Sarasota hoping to top the trip off with a special desert like Jack gave to wifey for Valentines Day (see his post). It is called the "Chocolate Bomb". Five different chocolates and a special "cherry" on top. Jack, you split yours with your wife. I was thinking of my wife and ordered two bombs so she wouldn't have to share with me. After such a scrumptious dessert, I was ready to vegitate and what better way to accomplish this than taking in the evening's sunset. Hope you enjoyed our trip.

A 10 day vacation to Florida allowed me to collect from 4 different locations. Hopefully @MikeR can help out with the bivalves and gastropods! First up is Cookie Cutter Creek. 1. Is this a bone? If so, type of bone and any thoughts to the small creature it came from? It is 4 mm long, so TINY. Next are Peace River unknowns is a type of shark tooth. The pointy part reminds me of lemon shark, but there are serrations along the root. 2. IDed as possibly Carcharhinus falcimormis; silky shark. 3. Probably no way to identify, but am open to suggestions. The next two fossils came from Yankeetown. 4. This small gastropod underwent some sort of crystallization/silicification. It's beauty does not show up well in the photo. It seems I read once that this occurs locally to the shells. 5. is a small Yankeetown echinoid. Not much for external markings. Maybe water worn? The rest of the fossils likely came from the Tamiami Formation in Sarasota County, though a little further south than I am used to collecting in. Inprevious years, I have collected the more dramatic gastropods and bivalves of the formation. This year, I focused on lesser species and new finds for my collection. Many have tentative IDs given based on my limited research. Here goes! 6. I assume this is an Ostrea but could not find an example with such linear lines. 7. A total guess on species. In fact, I am not sure if it is coral or a bryozoan. 8. 9. Some sort of razor clam. 10. 11. This specimen is much larger and wider than Crepidula fornicata. 12. A beat up specimen, but because of the vibrant color, it is worthy to me to ID. 13 14. I thought I verified identification last year, but failed to find it. So a second attempt. 15. 16. The scallop ears are flat on one side and curved on the other. 17. 18. This is the only "olive shell" found. I included it to make sure I was likely in the Tamiami Formation. There was a difference in species found this year, giving me some concern of the formation. . 19 20. 21.

Holy moly guys. The saga of my historical yard continues... is this man made or a fossil? Had other great finds today, I think this one needs a post all of its own.