Crab #3 Soft tissue organ preservation in full color

[Lone Hunter]

Collected in same place as 1 and 2,  I'm assuming this is Ferroranina dichrous (formerly Notopocorystes) going by the only section of carapace which is calcified.  I was really confused as to what I was looking at when cleaning it and had to do a little research on crab anatomy.  

 

This one breaks all the rules and looking forward to an explanation of how this was possible.  

#1 showing carapace, 

#2 heart,

#3 gill,

#4 I believe is calcified flesh,

#5 cardiac and pyloric stomach (I think) ,

6,7,8, and the rest are open for interpretation. 

#5 was most fascinating and took pictures from different angles with different lighting.

 

[jpc]

wow...soft tissues, huh.  You're gonna have to get much better pictures so that we can see what you are seeing.  

[Lone Hunter]

Seriously?  Even I know a heart and gill when I see one.  Between my scuffed up lens and cataracts that's the best I can do. 

[Ludwigia]

2 minutes ago, Lone Hunter said:

Seriously?  Even I know a heart and gill when I see one.  Between my scuffed up lens and cataracts that's the best I can do. 

 

I hate to say this, but I agree with jpc. These photos are not good enough for a proper analysis. If you can't do any better than this, then you won't get any qualified answers. You sure have suddenly become unnecessarily aggressive today. Maybe you should roll back a notch.

[digit]

As we often mention here on the forum--extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

 

I have no experience in Cretaceous raninoid crabs and so I cannot add anything authoritatively about this find other than to question the reasoning behind assuming #2 is a "heart". I do know enough about crustacean anatomy to know that crab blood is blue due to the copper-based pigment hemocyanin. If the reddish coloration is part of the reasoning why #2 represents a silicified "heart" then that assumption fails from the start.

 

I'm guessing this is a tiny item (a couple of centimeters it would seem from what I can see of the scale). Likely difficult to photograph clearly with depth-of-field issues. Additional imagery of the overall item with some reference points to what you believe you are seeing might be helpful so that we can understand this item. As always, identification and communication is more difficult online as opposed to in person with in-hand inspection.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Randyw]

I’m sorry but I’m not seeing a crab heart shape but I’m keeping an open mind…at least modern crab hearts are kinda manta ray shaped (or stng romulan warbird shaped if you’re a nerd like me.) but that could just be the angle I’m seeing it at. And almost always dark blue or blackish colored…Can we get more angles and dry photos?

Edited March 19 by Randyw

[Fossildude19]

Topic is now locked.

If these are the best photos we can expect, there is no point arguing over what may or may not be there.

Nothing can be determined from these pictures.