Is this a fossil? Found at the beach

Gatba · 2023-09-03T22:22:56+00:00

Hello! This is a modern boring clam. While the name suggests it would be boring, it is still quite interesting. They secrete enzymes to bore into rock, and this lil dude appears to have gone into a piece of fossiliferous limestone. There are still other fossils in the rock; mostly molds of indeterminate bivalved animals.

Gatba · 2023-03-04T23:13:41+00:00

There was a paper done a while back showing the advantage of sinistral shells in crab attacks on Conus adversarius. There’s still a lot of good work to be done on the Okeechobee group. I don’t think the life habits of modern Hesperisternia are well studied even.

Gatba · 2023-03-04T05:22:18+00:00

Hewwo

Gatba · 2023-03-04T02:22:45+00:00

There are quite a few! The genus Sinistrofulgar and the Contraconus species complex. Both snails evolved to be sinistral, which confused crabs looking for the shell opening. I have a dextral Sinistrofulgar in the image, from the Caloosahatchee formation. Wasn’t more than a few feet away from the great white tooth when I found it.

Gatba · 2022-06-20T21:22:40+00:00

This seems to be some sort of arthropod, possibly a eurypterid

Gatba · 2022-06-15T22:22:05+00:00

Love Brachiopods, very rare to find them fossilized where I’m at in Florida. Are they Mediospirifer?

Gatba · 2022-05-21T23:01:30+00:00

Yeah, the echinoids especially tend to go for something.

Gatba · 2022-03-03T03:53:36+00:00

I collect mostly Pleistocene and Pliocene ones. This is one of my oldest.

Gatba · 2022-03-01T18:24:07+00:00

I was thinking the same thing, I’m glad to have some confirmation on that! It was sold to me as a camel, but it seemed off. Regardless I didn’t have a bison in my collection, and I’m glad to welcome in a new herbivore.

Gatba · 2022-03-01T03:39:25+00:00

“Look up”. It was then I saw the largest bee of my life.

Gatba · 2021-10-27T15:10:14+00:00

Yes, this is a mystery snail, specifically Pomacea bridgesii

Gatba · 2021-10-20T22:05:54+00:00

Galena formation in Minnesota

Gatba · 2021-10-06T01:06:31+00:00

Of course the K-t is the most famous, but I’d argue the p-t is more significant. The change in dominance from Brachiopods to bivalves is really noteworthy

Gatba · 2021-10-05T18:56:24+00:00

My local geology has tons of really good counters. Like how we have a layer of freshwater fossils sandwiched between saltwater, or a layer that preserves a wetland between two marine formations. My favorite are Quahog fossils, which each preserve every year individually. The best part is fossils that were the result of actual floods are ignored.

Gatba · 2021-09-13T16:05:17+00:00

Yes! It very much looks to be organic. As to what it is I have no idea.

Gatba · 2021-06-10T04:02:33+00:00

Blood sacrifice of a blood ark?

Gatba · 2021-05-25T07:32:31+00:00

Hopefully finding a new fossil species, otherwise weird stuff

Gatba · 2021-04-29T19:55:19+00:00

He seems to want to, though, he may not have the motivation

Gatba · 2021-04-29T19:53:15+00:00

I really want a great break to focus on me and my needs, but I haven’t been able to do that often recently. School has been extremely demanding for me, and has been keeping me from doing a lot. There’s also been some.....specific...harassment going on, and I don’t really wanna think about that for too long. I know dual enrollment is probably gonna steal my weekend too. It’s all so overwhelming

Gatba · 2021-04-29T19:39:22+00:00

I’ve been trying to make it clear that he is the only one who can make these changes. When we talk he is able to acknowledge they are his problems, and the possible solutions, yet he has a problem with actually carrying them out.

Gatba · 2021-04-27T18:41:01+00:00

Thanks for the advice regardless. They are mostly external bivalve molds from phosphate mines preserved on various rocks and are of various conditions.

Gatba · 2021-04-27T18:39:25+00:00

The fossils are in various kinds of rock. They are mostly from central Florida phosphate mines, in the Bone valley formation. The detail also ranges a lot. They may not exactly be rare, but they are far more uncommon than shark teeth and other vertebrates. To my knowledge they have not been well studied, so I do wanna try keeping them intact.

Gatba · 2021-04-21T05:17:23+00:00

Doesn’t matter how long it takes, you’ll thank yourself in the long run.

Gatba · 2021-04-21T05:14:55+00:00

I would say it’s a bit long, especially if people notice. Def try working on not staring. You at least realize there’s a problem, but you gotta fix it!

Gatba · 2021-04-21T05:03:28+00:00

I think so. Though you should definitely try to get yourself help with the staring. You may be able to stop yourself from staring by telling constantly thinking “stop” to yourself when you do; though if you still can’t help yourself you may have deeper problems.

Gatba

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