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A Cretan Fossils Collection


astron

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Astrinos.... Seeing that fossil Bee gave me a right buzz ! :thumbsu: ....FABULOUS find my friend... :goodjob:

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Shark's teeth and insect fossils! You are doing well, my friend!

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Hi, Chris, and thanks very much for the honoring comment!!!!!!!!!! Though, I'd say that the sense you have refered to is mostly increased along with our experience with fossil hunting ... ;):)

To come to the running finds, despite my increased search, I have not important news on shark teeth... The only found just a small blade (13 mm), with the base of the tooth missing... It reenforces the existence of sharks in the area,,, I have maintained it on a little piece of matrix...

attachicon.gifΕικόνα 8632.jpg attachicon.gifΕικόνα 8649.jpg

Of a higher paleontological importance could be the recently found 9mm fossil bee (?). Not any touch on it afret found. Just its position is not the best, I like it though... :)

attachicon.gifΕικόνα 6854.jpg

Wow Astrinos, I like keeping part of the matrix alot with that one. And as for the bee that is a really special find! What formation/age is that? Congrats! Regards, Chris

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Of a higher paleontological importance could be the recently found 9mm fossil bee (?). Not any touch on it afret found. Just its position is not the best, I like it though... :)

attachicon.gifΕικόνα 6854.jpg

Beeautiful!

Context is critical.

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Steve, Chas, Chris, Missourian,

Thanks much my friends for the feedback!!!! ;):)

Chris, the sediments in my hunting area are of the late miocene,

To go ahead, I am adding a new find coming from the overlooked world of the shells.

It was some two weeks ago when I walked over this thing while hunting...

post-4345-0-42680800-1375983175_thumb.jpg

Apparently, it was about a big shell not well preserved and divided into lots of pieces, that were ready to bark away by the first touch... What make me try it was the mystery of what exactly was hidden there... By the step by step help of my super glue I worked on it for some hours and came back to the spot a week later... I realised then that another big shell was involved, possibly the other valve of the same bivalve....

post-4345-0-13421600-1375983195_thumb.jpg

The final result on the next post...

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Here is (in 5 pics) the result after hours of prep work.

It's about a huge (133 x 100mm) Giant Atlantic cockle Dinocardium robustum (both valves) .

What amazes with it is the position of the valves along with its big size that exceeds the biggest ever reported for this species (125 mm).

Despite it isn't in a perfect condition I love it... :)

post-4345-0-40969400-1375989838_thumb.jpg

post-4345-0-10504800-1375989849_thumb.jpg

post-4345-0-67377100-1375989857_thumb.jpg

post-4345-0-98192800-1375989866_thumb.jpg

post-4345-0-71935700-1375989876_thumb.jpg

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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It's a monster! And all there, both halves! Well worth the time and effort, Astrinos :)

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Astrinos.... I'm not surprised you love it.... Fantastic find....

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Chas, Roger, Steve,

Thank you very much, my friends, for the nice comments! ;):)

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Here are all my porites sp. corals.

They are 4 big pieces. The three first in two pics each and the oval one in 4 pics.

These are really impressive! Great fossils and they make great displays as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello Michael and everyone!

Michael, Thanks much form the nice comments!



Time for a new fossil adventure!

There wasn't enough time available for a typical trip to the permanent hunting area in my village of Panasos, and I thought it was a chance for a short exploratine hunting trip in the wider area of our city of Heraklion, that I have been informed it yelds nice fossil fish!

The sediments here are dated as Late pliocene - Piacenzian (some 2,6 mya).

My son in law George, who is with us these days for vacations, followed me pleasantly on last Wednesday and thus it was sure we'd have some good pics from the trip. Self meant that we were goingto navigate to the unknown, since this was the first time I visited this very area...



The first interesting thing we met as soon as we reached this place was an arcade at the base of a hill. post-4345-0-25367600-1377544502_thumb.jpg I entered till the dayligh helped to and I kept in mind that I have to come back with a torch for more exploration...



post-4345-0-59203600-1377544508_thumb.jpg Having a look at a road cut...



post-4345-0-73523000-1377544514_thumb.jpg The structure of the diatomitic sediments...



Happily, searching confirmed the information about nice fossil fish from the beginning....

post-4345-0-22750300-1377544525_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-01860300-1377544535_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-22069400-1377544540_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-45528000-1377544548_thumb.jpg

While searching a nice hawk visited us for a while and that was enough time for George to take 2 nice pics of it... It's about a Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus). A big thanks to a big bird-man for the id... ;):D

post-4345-0-97484800-1377544561_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-32846100-1377544572_thumb.jpg

The best finds of this trip on the next two posts...

Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Not a dense variety of fish, well preserved though...

Bregmaceros albyi 1

Before the prep post-4345-0-45701600-1377545169_thumb.jpg After post-4345-0-00439900-1377545218_thumb.jpg

Bregmaceros albyi 2

Beforepost-4345-0-60894700-1377545145_thumb.jpg After post-4345-0-72967800-1377545246_thumb.jpg

Bregmaceros albyi 3

After the prep post-4345-0-69008000-1377545228_thumb.jpg

A ctenoid fish scale post-4345-0-37911300-1377545251_thumb.jpg

One more fish on the next post...

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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And finally the only Silver-stripe round herring Spratelloides gracilis found,

Before the prep.post-4345-0-85784300-1377545899_thumb.jpg

After the prep post-4345-0-31546400-1377545916_thumb.jpg

And a closer shot post-4345-0-68460600-1377545931_thumb.jpg

It was a nice start for sure...

Have to thank George for his help with the photos and every one for viewing... ;):)

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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These are marvelous fish :wub: , and it does not seem like a difficult place to collect from!

The hawk is a Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus).

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Nice sardines ;) ! It's always nice to find new stomping grounds, isn't it? You'll probably be going back there in the hopes of finding a complete ctenoid fish, won't you? Be careful at the arcade though. The entrance looks like it could collapse at any time.

Edited by Ludwigia

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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Astrinos... Very well preserved and the exposure worth much more exploration.... Congratulations on such wonderful finds....

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Chas, Scott, Eric, Roger, Steve,

Thank you very much for the encouraging comments!!!!!!!! ;):)

No doubt it's about a nice fossil fish place, there is a great disadvantage though... Contrary to my village area, where I haven't any searching restrictions, here in Heraclion every meter of ground are valuable private properties and you are not allowed to make unlimited investigations... Thus, I visited this very spot for second and last time some days ago and found some more nicely preserved fish, that I am going to present next days.

After all, I have to make one more explorative trip in the wider area in the hope of finding any new spots available. The more possible is a negative result, thought...

Any way, good to have some examples of those nice fish... :)

Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Yes at least you have those specimens. Do you think it will be possible to trace the same layer (or the same type of rock, at least) to find other sites?

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Hello Eric, Gery and all!

Eric and Gery, Thanks for the nice comments ;):)

Eric,

Be sure that these diatomitic formations are well printed in my mind. The hard is to meet it anywhereelse!!!.

As told, I have found some more fish in the above area and these finds will be presented here gradually.

First of all and the only for today is the bigger of these fish 12,5 long that was found on 23 of August with the prep fineshed on 26.

My son in law George was still with me and thus we have in detail the hole preparation process of this find.

This is the first moment I realised it was a fish there, post-4345-0-99994200-1377772113_thumb.jpg The head is broken away with a part of it missing, while a part of the tail is still hidden into the soft diatomitic matrix. Have to look if the oter part of the fossil was saved...

Ok, here it is! Complete, exept the tail of course....post-4345-0-93075600-1377772121_thumb.jpg.

The first basic task to follow is to stick the broken head back... Not an easy task indeed since a simple wrong touch could destroy all the efforts. Next 6 pics show more...post-4345-0-15137400-1377772130_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-62322100-1377772156_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-18205600-1377772169_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-87928100-1377772183_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-02151100-1377772196_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-15016300-1377772208_thumb.jpg

Ooouuufff... Done...post-4345-0-63016400-1377772218_thumb.jpg

The continuation on the next post...

Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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The second basic task was to split open the tail from the one part of the fossil post-4345-0-32234900-1377776242_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-54816700-1377776339_thumb.jpg

and to stick it back to the counterpart, where it was missing from....

post-4345-0-61026000-1377776378_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-69222700-1377776417_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-04855000-1377776431_thumb.jpgpost-4345-0-45556800-1377776452_thumb.jpg

Sucessfully done with not any accidents.... post-4345-0-78326100-1377776482_thumb.jpg

The fundamental and more difficult prep work had already been done and the remaining was to be done in my laboratory at home...

The final result on the next post...

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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After 2 hours of additional prep work at home this is the final result...

Over all view. post-4345-0-21167800-1377811330_thumb.jpg

Part[attachment post-4345-0-32063200-1377811353_thumb.jpg

And the counterpart post-4345-0-22213700-1377811370_thumb.jpg

It's about a 12,5 cm long herring belonging to the Class actinopterygii, Order Clupeiformes, Family Clupeidae, Genus Clupea and Species Spratelloides gracilis.

The preservation of this thing is amazing at least to my eyes.

Closing to clarify that the hole fossil is absolutely pure with not any helpful material added on it!

Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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