Mystery Fossil in Topeka Limestone Elk County Kd

[Dblackston]

All, I occasionally find these small fossils in the Topeka Limestone that look like a branched type of rhombophora. 

 

I have attached a plate from the guidebook that shows it may be a penniretepora or a acanthocladia but I am not sure. 

 

The fossil in question is about .5" long. Sorry for the bad photos. I couldn't get my focus right. 

 

I just love Topeka and Americus limestone  though! I think you could stare a piece for hours and never notice every detail.  I've always wondered if the sea just had that much life in it then or if the remains just collected more in this area for some reason. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

 I think Penniretepora.

Nice hash. 

Yes, both. Firstly the remains accumulated on the ocean floor but there was also a very rich and varied fauna at the location at this time. And don't forget that what you see isn't the half of it, just imagine all the microorganisms and soft bodies creatures that weren't preserved. 

Edited July 8, 2022 by Tidgy's Dad

[DPS Ammonite]

18 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

 

Nice hash. 

Yes, both. Firstly the remains accumulated on the ocean floor but there was also a very rich and varied fauna at the location at this time. An don't forget that what you see isn't the half of it, just imagine all the microorganisms and soft ibodies creatures that weren't preserved. 

I suspect that if you exclude microscopic organisms, less than 10% of the types of organisms will be preserved in a lot of localities. 
 

When I look at the Pennsylvanian Naco Fm. rocks in Arizona, I try to envision all the sponges that were here, but were not preserved because they had no hard parts or you can’t recognize them because they fell apart into piles of spicules. (Spicules are common in the Naco). Think of how many species of crustaceans existed; all we find now is one or two species of trilobites.