Part 2 Fossil hunting trip in Utica, Illinois October/29/2022

[Joseph Fossil]

3 hours ago, deutscheben said:

I don't see anything that looks like fish material here, including that Pit 11 concretion, I'm afraid. There might be some fossils here, but whatever is there is faint and indeterminate. 

 

@deutscheben I just relooked over the pit 15 specimen and I think your definitely right - really likely just a shale rock. Already double checked for the Pit 11 specimen (definitely a lobed fined fish), but it really is faint! How often on the fourm does someone posts something thinking its a fossil and it winds up being just a misidentified shale rock or something like that (for Pit 15, kinda feeling like I'm in that boat for these rocks)? 

[deutscheben]

That happens many times every day here- nature is very good at creating shapes that look like something and it takes experience to learn what to look for.
 

It’s important to go into it without a preconceived notion of what you think a specimen should be, and instead examine what you have on its own merits.

 

I still do not see anything in your Pit 11 specimen to indicate it is anything other than mineral staining or pyrite. Could you tell us what features lead you to think it is a fish?

[Joseph Fossil]

8 minutes ago, deutscheben said:

That happens many times every day here- nature is very good at creating shapes that look like something and it takes experience to learn what to look for.
 

It’s important to go into it without a preconceived notion of what you think a specimen should be, and instead examine what you have on its own merits.

 

I still do not see anything in your Pit 11 specimen to indicate it is anything other than mineral staining or pyrite. Could you tell us what features lead you to think it is a fish?

 

@deutscheben Thank you and of course! When I showed the photos of the fossil originally to @Tales From the Shale, he pointed and highlighted with the pink arrows the features that he thinks could indicate the specimen could be a lobe fined fish (or even an early tetrapod)!

 

 

Not too sure about the Tetrapod hypothesis (it is possible though), but the arrows do highlight the areas of what I think could be fins. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Joseph Fossil

[jdp]

Not a fish. Definitely not a tetrapod. Sorry.