New Jersey Coral

[frankh8147]

I dug this out of a field about ten years ago in a heavily populated town in New Jersey (15 minutes North of Camden, 15 minutes South of Trenton- along the Delaware River). I always assumed it to be modern but after joining this forum, I found that it has the appearance of honeycomb brain coral so I figured I would ask, what do you think? Thanks again!

[frankh8147]

Few more, including the base..

[frankh8147]

1 more..

[frankh8147]

Here is the extent of my research on this.. I posted this because it looked similar to this..http://antiquesandcollectibles.ecrater.com/p/13597710/honeycomb-brain-coral-caribbean-sea

[frankh8147]

Last one

[frankh8147]

...

[Carl]

I'm putting my money on a modern chunk of coral brought to NJ as a souvenir of some more tropical vacation and then lost.

[Plax]

I'd like to throw the ballast idea into this query. The Caribbean rum trade to colonial america and early america must account for some of the modern coral found near various ports. It was commonly found during I-95 construction along the river in Philly. While they weren't coral the abundant Dover Flint nodules dumped in the Delaware across from Philly prove that alien rocks etc used as ballast have been dumped in the past. I have personally found big chunks along the Cape Fear River in Wilmington NC and am certain that they weren't souvenirs.

Carl is correct of course that it could be a souvenir. Particularly if it was found on the surface in a back yard etc. It certainly looks much nicer than the ballast coral I've seen.

[frankh8147]

Thanks for the input- It was found in a location that just doesn't make sense to me (roughly 15 minutes away from I-95 Philly). I saw a bit sticking out of the ground so I dug it up but never really thought much of it because I always believed it to be modern.

Is there a definitive way to identify what species it is?

Edited January 28, 2015 by frankh8147

[Plax]

a modern reference to Caribbean coral, google should get you there

[pinkus]

I used to live in Central New Jersey and there were always pieces of shells in the field next to my house. An older cousin explained that the ocean used to be there so the shells were from that. When I became a geology major I brought a bunch of them to a paleo professor and he said that they were all edible species and were likely put there by the landowner to help put lime into the soil. A big chunk of coral is a bit of a weirder liming agent than edible shellfish, but, could still have been a souvenir that was put in the field instead of the garbage to help add calcium to the soil.