Large Cephalopod Found Years Ago.

[Philmont_709n2]

I found this what I believe to be a cephalopod fossil about 7 years ago in a small wooded ravine. Its just about 11 inches long and I have always considered it my best fossil find by far. Its just so HUGE! I was wondering if this is a rare find and even though I don't think I'd ever sell it, is it worth anything?

 

[Harry Pristis]

It could be a belemnite guard. Have others been found nearby? "In a wooded ravine" just doesn't convey any geological information. Why do you think it is a guard?

 

[traviscounty]

Pretty nice. Where's it from?

 

[Philmont_709n2]

I found it in Butler County, Ohio. I have found lots of broken up, smoothed out cephalopod shells in creeks but they are usually small and in rock. Our area is full of fossils. Trilobites, Bryozoans, Brachiopods, Gastropods, Crinoids, and Horn Coral are all very common in creeks here.

 

[Harry Pristis]

I found it in Butler County, Ohio. I have found lots of broken up, smoothed out cephalopod shells in creeks but they are usually small and in rock. Our area is full of fossils. Trilobites, Bryozoans, Brachiopods, Gastropods, Crinoids, and Horn Coral are all very common in creeks here.

Well . . . The bedrock of Butler County is Ordovician. That means it is too early to find a belemnite guard. That suggests an orthoconic ammonoid, but I don't know which one that might be.

Does the object have segments . . . rings around the body?

 

[Philmont_709n2]

its almost a perfectly round cone but in the last picture you can see rings

 

[Harry Pristis]

its almost a perfectly round cone but in the last picture you can see rings

Well, okaaay! Those rings are actually the edges of the internal walls (or "septa") of the shell. Their form is diagnostic. Carefully clean a section of the fossil so that the septa are visible. Post a close-up image of the septa, and maybe it can be identified.

 

[silvercop]

 

[Bum Luck]

Awesome!

I found a few chunks of cephs this weekend, but nothing this nice.

What is the spindle shaped interior of them called? The siphuncle?

 

[ohio]

Philmont, it is a cephalopod for sure. I grew up in Butler Co. but, now live in Cincy. As you know they are quite common and do not have much, if any, value. If you want check out

drydredgers.com for a better id.

We meet in Braunstein Hall at UC once a month. It is a pretty good group. You should come down sometime if you can. If often smack open those with a hammer and find enrolled flexicalymene trilobites as they would crawl inside the abandoned shell for shelter.

Chuck