What fossil is this?

[LuisTH]

Anyone has any idea what this is?



It's size was about two inches in diameter.

 

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[irbaddadjoe]

A large crinoid stem. Its awful large but I cant think of anything with radiating grooves and ridges that extend from hole to periphery but crinoids.

 

[bakergeol]

I would go with this brach.

http://www.lakeneosho.org/page8.html


George

 

[bakergeol]

A simple test to see if this is a shell or a crinoid. If the thickness of the specimen is paper thin -It is a shell. If it was a crinoid it should exit out the other side and have some depth to it. Thin concentric rings, very large size(I have never seen a crinoid 2 inches in diameter) and lack of a large center hole do not favor a crinoid.

George

 

[Treasure Tom]

Hi!

Nice fossil! It seems like your fossil is concave from the front view in your photo. If it is concave on both sides then it is probably a fossilized shark vertebra due to its large size. I have checked photos of crinoids and they usually seem to have a small hole in the center. Here is the link to shark vertebrae fossils:

www.buriedtreasurefossils.com/shark_vertebrae.htm

Tom

 

[irbaddadjoe]

Tom I think you got it. Looks awful close.

 

[Treasure Tom]

Hi irbaddadjoe,

My brother collected a similar fossil which was about 1/2 inch in diameter. It had very fine lines and was concave at both ends. It also split in half so we were able to see the cross-section which looked like this:
__
)_(

It was probably a small Cretaceous shark or fish vertebra due to its small size and the presence of small fossilized shark teeth and fish remains in the area. Happy hunting!

Tom