|
Post by fernwood on Mar 11, 2018 12:28:28 GMT -5
Coral is possibly Montastrea travisensis from the lower Cretaceous period. Found at location on my Avatar. Trace fossil is under investigation. Crinoids are commonly known as sea lilies, though they are animals, not plants. Crinoids are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins, and brittle stars. Crinoids have been around since the Ordovician period. Some Paleontologists think they could be even older than that. Crinoids are not extinct, but living ones are rare to find. This one took many hours to clean and I am not finished yet. crin col 1 crin col 3 crin col 4 crin col 5 crin col 2 crin col 6 Also, posting an unidentified specimen which I think might be a trace fossil of a Crinoid. It would have been preserved in the closed position, aka, not feeding and possibly under distress. This is highly covered with iron deposits and only has about 2 hours of cleaning done. A lot more cleaning to go. This one is a little larger, about 5” across. Appears to also have some other fossil marine life. I had no ide what this was when I picked it up. Just thought it was another coral fossil. Lots of photos to show others to always look on both sides before dropping something. When I turned it over, could only see a little of what I thought was something different. Took the chance and it went into my bucket. Glad for that decision. This one was found about 10’ from the previous specimen. crin 4 crin 3 crin 4 crin 3 crin 2 crin 1 crin 7 crin 5 This was the side I saw at first and picked up. crin 11 crin 10 crin 9 crin 8 crin 6 Thanks for looking.
|
|
|
Post by amygdule on Mar 11, 2018 13:23:08 GMT -5
The first rock looks like coral to me. Is it agatized or calcified?
|
|
|
Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 11, 2018 14:04:39 GMT -5
The first rock looks like coral to me. Is it agatized or calcified? Ditto. Coral, not crinoid.
|
|
pizzano
Cave Dweller
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,390
|
Post by pizzano on Mar 11, 2018 14:43:09 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Mar 11, 2018 17:30:37 GMT -5
Pretty hard, feels like chert to me. I will double check with the geologist who ID'd the first one. Still curious on the imprint on the second one.
Thanks for making me dig deeper.
|
|
|
Post by rmf on Mar 11, 2018 20:34:22 GMT -5
fernwood The images marked crinoid colony are coral. Crinoids are not colonial but are more like plants individual stalks with a caylx on top. The root like structures embed in sediment but they can move and have been filmed in the ocean (obviously modern ones) moving across the ocean floor at a whopping 3-6 feet per hour. As you said they are animals but I have seen a video that looks like an underwater wheat field moving across the ocean floor. The other image labeled Crimoid is chert probably of semi fossil origin but the with out enough detail to say for sure. When chert replaces fossils it frequently destroys the fossil.
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Mar 12, 2018 5:39:54 GMT -5
Thanks. I had originally thought the top one was Originally thought it was a Montastrea travisensis coral from the lower Cretaceous period. Think I will go back to my original ID. Did not think that Chrinoids were colonial. Thanks.
|
|
NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,630
|
Post by NRG on Mar 12, 2018 12:33:27 GMT -5
Thanks. I had originally thought the top one was Originally thought it was a Montastrea travisensis coral from the lower Cretaceous period. Think I will go back to my original ID. Did not think that Chrinoids were colonial. Thanks. So you just made up a name contrary to what you thought it was?
|
|
Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,680
|
Post by Fossilman on Mar 13, 2018 10:15:57 GMT -5
That coral,is just awesome! Nice score.... The others,really don't show enough to ID..
|
|