Broken Shovel

[Shellseeker]

Normally, my hunting season starts in October,  and if not then, certainly by November 1st.  I normally try to hunt 2-3 times a week, so 30 outings in a 3 month period. In the last 3 months, I have had hunted 6 times.  Today was my 7th.

This was a very isolated location. Half the outings to this location, I go alone because I love the solitude in nature. I was probing for new and productive spots, and the 1st sieve yielded an Equus Tooth, 8 or 10 small shark teeth,  a gator tooth.. Attempting to load a 3rd shovel full, I broke the wooden handled shovel. Large lower hemi,  llama incisor,  more small teeth and an odd shaped bone in the 2nd  (and last) sieve of the day.

It might be an earbone,  and I have seen a lot of them,  closest with a few similar features in this thread.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/125703-hunting-florida-interesting-finds/

 

WHATTODO, whattodo... 75 minutes of hard paddling back to my car.

 

Decided to  explore for new places.  I knew that there was a shell layer close.. I always dream about ageing this layer, and infrequently we find Makos or land mammal close by....

This was my 1st discovery. Recent rains had slpit the mud layer where these pectens decided to reside.

Above the mud was a shell layer,   a coral caught my eye. I love these small self contained ones.!

Some sort of crystallization going on here.

 

Then a frag of mammal tooth??

 

Some other shells, corals, and a Whale vert (where did that come from?)

 

1st time back in an area after the rains,  can be exciting...  Jack

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very nice.

I love that coral. 

[digit]

12 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

I've seen similar items before. I think it is the root of a mammoth tooth.

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Shellseeker]

16 minutes ago, digit said:

I've seen similar items before. I think it is the root of a mammoth tooth.

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Thank you... It has a feeling of Mammoth,  but the enamel both inside and out did not quite make sense...

A root would fit what we are seeing.....

[Meganeura]

23 minutes ago, digit said:

I've seen similar items before. I think it is the root of a mammoth tooth.

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

I'd argue it's Mastodon over mammoth actually, I think Mastodon roots usually have that chunkier enamel. Could be wrong though.

[Shellseeker]

Continuing on the corals..

In a previous post of similar corals,  @MikeR, @oyo and others helped to ID similar corals from this site as Solenastrea hyades and Siderastrea pliocenica plus a couple of more...

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/52663-plio-pleistocene-florida-corals/

In the above posting from @Plantguy in early 2015,  he asked for identification of some finds including this one:

note the description in the remarks....indicating size and shape....

 

I picked up 4 corals this times and believe the top 2 complete colonies are Solenastrea hyades

 

I do not know about the small one... but I am sure others will... Thanks for all the previous assistance.   Jack

 

 

[digit]

The small rounded coral with the septa from each of the polyp's slightly depressed calyx radiating out from the center and meeting those from the adjacent polyps in a clean edge without any raised rim match my concept of the modern species in the genus Siderastrea. Obviously, no Siderasrea pliocenica left on today's reefs but the genus matches the modern form.

 

The more rounded calices with the raised rims and open inter-polyp space between are consistent with my understanding of the genus Solenastrea which is not a common component of coral reefs but more usually found in open grassy areas and can be abundant on deepwater reef structures.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Shellseeker]

7 minutes ago, digit said:

The small rounded coral with the septa from each of the polyp's slightly depressed calyx radiating out from the center and meeting those from the adjacent polyps in a clean edge without any raised rim match my concept of the modern species in the genus Siderastrea. Obviously, no Siderasrea pliocenica left on today's reefs but the genus matches the modern form.

 

The more rounded calices with the raised rims and open inter-polyp space between are consistent with my understanding of the genus Solenastrea which is not a common component of coral reefs but more usually found in open grassy areas and can be abundant on deepwater reef structures.

Cheers ,

-Ken

Ken,  Your knowledge of modern corals melds nicely with what I am finding from a couple of million years ago.. I always wonder what the fossil corals might have looked like alive... It seems like the most common form of Siderasrea pliocenica was a small (40-50mm) round, flatish coral head.  Do you have photos of live corals that match that description ?

 

I am not sure that this fossil layer containing 90 % shell material is actual a reef,  just that it contains many coral fossils to my great pleasure.

 

[Shellseeker]

41 minutes ago, Meganeura said:

I'd argue it's Mastodon over mammoth actually, I think Mastodon roots usually have that chunkier enamel. Could be wrong though.

Certainly a possibility. 

Only a few of my Mastodon finds contained any root material..and those that did have massive roots,  which seem unlikely for this find.  Although it could be come from the root of a juvenile or baby

 

[Shellseeker]

After my own question:

https://reefbuilders.com/2018/02/09/caribbean-coral-diaries-siderastrea-radians/

 

 

The top image is the Lesser starlet coral Siderastrea radians with deeply pitted corallites and small

colony side. Below is Siderastrea siderea, larger colony size, and smaller shallower corallites.

It can be difficult to tell juvenile colonies apart, but once the colony is over 30cm

you can be sure it is the massive starlet coral.

[digit]

42 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

Ken,  Your knowledge of modern corals melds nicely with what I am finding from a couple of million years ago.. I always wonder what the fossil corals might have looked like alive... It seems like the most common form of Siderasrea pliocenica was a small (40-50mm) round, flatish coral head.  Do you have photos of live corals that match that description ?

I'm much better with live coral on actual reefs (though that knowledge is every day becoming more and more arcane as live corals and coral reefs go the way of the Passenger Pigeon).

 

The Massive Starlet Coral (Siderastrea siderea) is (was) a common coral on shallow reefs and backreefs (landward of the reef crest). Most are small around the size of a basketball but old colonies many hundreds of years old are capable of reaching diameters over a meter. During coral bleaching events these corals often change from browns and tans and can take on bluish or lavender colorations.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=siderastrea+%2Bsiderea+-radians&tbm=isch

 

There is a smaller extant species the Lesser Startlet Coral (Siderastrea radians) which tends to be more encrusting and seldom forms more raised spherical colonies. Whereas the calicies of S. siderea tend to have straight sloping septa that are more shallowly conical, the calicies of S. radians have a more "pinched" look to them. The space between the calicies is more broadly flat and toward the center of the calyx the slope increases forming a deeper pit. This tends to make the calicies of this smaller species more obvious and higher contrast.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=siderastrea+%2Bradians+-siderea+&tbm=isch

 

There is also Siderastrea stellata which is endemic to Brazil.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Shellseeker]

1 hour ago, digit said:

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=siderastrea+%2Bsiderea+-radians&tbm=isch

 

There is a smaller extant species the Lesser Startlet Coral (Siderastrea radians) which tends to be more encrusting and seldom forms more raised spherical colonies. Whereas the calicies of S. siderea tend to have straight sloping septa that are more shallowly conical, the calicies of S. radians have a more "pinched" look to them

From your link....

[digit]

Your Siderastrea is more of the S. siderea form without the pinched-in calicies seen in S. radians--more likely the Pliocene species.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Shellseeker]

54 minutes ago, digit said:

Your Siderastrea is more of the S. siderea form without the pinched-in calicies seen in S. radians--more likely the Pliocene species.

Cheers. -Ken

I see what you mean.  There does not appear to be a modern version of Siderastrea that matches the calicies of  Siderastrea pliocenica.

[digit]

Yup. More similar in form to one than the other common extant species.

 

Be careful or I just might turn you into a coral reef surveyor (something I did for 25 years).

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken