Adventures in Balance. A Peace River fossil journal.

[Balance]

@Jaybot

 

I got in trouble for not working on orders and spending too much time searching for matches. 😂😂 Then the boat swap happened, then rebuilding it, then obviously I had to go hunt in it so this got put back in the drawer. 
 

Im gonna work on the Equus project some this week because I need to program some projects for the CnC anyway. One goal is to take the best example from each and do one of those 3D 360 degree photos. I have a program to make them but not sure if the file type will upload here. Tine will tell 
 

 

Edited May 5 by Balance

[digit]

 

19 hours ago, Balance said:

1: First up what is this ? I have never found intact fossil shells in the river. These look old. Not recent because they don’t look freshwater. 
Below is a fragment of something incredible. Looks like a sand dollar but not. ??? Crab shell? 

The internal structure is unlike crab carapace and definitely indicates an echinoderm test. I'll try to pass this by Roger Portell and see if it rings a bell.

 

19 hours ago, Balance said:

2: Ok shark fans. This thing is kinda robust. I don’t recall one like it before. Any idea? 

Hard to judge from (just images of) worn teeth but you might consider Parotodus benedeni which are here but rare.

 

19 hours ago, Balance said:

3: Same story different verse. Little bit smaller roots a little bit taller. Skee-low shark?

Given the bulk of the root this one looks like a (very worn) posterior meg (from a small shark).

 

19 hours ago, Balance said:

4: I’m thinking this is an alligators “between the eyes”  basically the top medial corner of the eye orbital?

I spotted this in the pile above. Could be part of a frontal (between the eyes) but the narrow width makes me think that it might be part of the parietal between the two upper temporal fenestrae might be more likely. Would be easiest to determine comparing it to a complete skull but check here for reference:

 

https://www.savalli.us/BIO370/Anatomy/5.AlligatorSkeletonLabel.html

 

19 hours ago, Balance said:

5: Any clue what this popped off of? I feel like those two ligament attachment points or whatever they are must be unique. ???

Looks like a Tilly Bone to me--that inflated smooth surface is very familiar once you've seen a lot of these.

 

 

Nice haul!

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Balance]

@digit Thank you, Sir! 
 

Good Monday morn to you. 
 

Sacha gave this ID for the “sand dollar crab” 😊

 

“JP, Your "sand dollar" is a section of sea biscuit. There are 2 in the Peace River formation. They are Rhyncholampas chipolanus and Brissopsis hoffmani. Based on the aspect ratio of your segment, I think you have the latter.”

 

Tilly bone! I have a couple good ones and it does have that vibe. I’ll look at those this morning. 
 

Thanks for the Alligator doc. I don’t actually have anything on them saved. 
 

I’ll take better pictures and maybe a video and post the tooth on the forum for ID. It’s seriously not like the others but that dark section on the top of the tooth, just before the root, seems like it’s important… 

 

Appreciate the help!!

 

Jp

 

add on: I’m thinking it’s this section correct? 

Edited May 6 by Balance

[Al Dente]

20 hours ago, Balance said:

2: Ok shark fans. This thing is kinda robust. I don’t recall one like it before. Any idea? 

Galeocerdo. Possibly G. mayumbensis, if not, then G. cuvier.

[Balance]

@Al Dente I like @digit ‘s answer better. 😉

 

Jp

[Balance]

Dug out a few friends to compare with. I can see it now. Interesting because I saw this as an unworn tooth due to the massive and protruding root. Not an extremely worn even bigger tooth. 
 

[dries85]

1 hour ago, Balance said:

@Al Dente I like @digit ‘s answer better. 😉

 

Jp

I just wanted to say posterior lower Hemipristis serra, but i actually like @Al Dente's answer better 🤔 Parotodus would be a nicer find tho, but this defenitely isn't one due to the serrations.. 

Gotta admit i haven't found my first Hemi yet, and G. Mayumbensis doesn't occur where i'm hunting, so i'm not an expert on those anyway..

Edited May 6 by dries85

[Balance]

16 minutes ago, dries85 said:

 

Gotta admit i haven't found my first Hemi yet, and G. Mayumbensis doesn't occur where i'm hunting, so i'm not an expert on those anyway..

I tend find good Hemi’s each trip. Not like the way you yank makos out with the same regularity as I pull out old beer cans though.  
 

I have several Galeocerdo types. Need to go through them. The only ones I separated into their own box are the Hemis.
 

Actually, I probably have a bunch of different teeth. 1000’s  … I’ve just never looked at them until recently. I’m much more into bones and mammals. Summer gets hot here and a nice 3500 piece sharks tooth ‘puzzle’  to sort on my table might be a nice inside activity… 

 

Appreciate you!
 

Jp

[digit]

5 hours ago, dries85 said:

Parotodus would be a nicer find tho, but this defenitely isn't one due to the serrations.. 

If there are serrations then this taxon is off the table. Well within the size and shape of a G. mayumbensis but they are pretty flat on the labial side. Your specimen looked curved but that could be the lighting.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Balance]

This tooth fragment was a highlight of my last trip. Found it looking for family spots. I thought it was mammoth but now I’m not sure if it’s not a piece of rhino. It’s about 1.5” x1” and pure incredible. 
 

It’s beautiful. Regardless of who it belonged to. 
 

I had to soak it in water all day to get it to pop like it did in the sieve. Might try a clear coat on it. 
 

 

Used all of the lights! 😂

 

HSB’s?? 

 

[Shellseeker]

3 hours ago, Balance said:

This tooth fragment was a highlight of my last trip. Found it looking for family spots. I thought it was mammoth but now I’m not sure if it’s not a piece of rhino. It’s about 1.5” x1” and pure incredible. 
 

It’s beautiful. Regardless of who it belonged to. 
 

I had to soak it in water all day to get it to pop like it did in the sieve. Might try a clear coat on it. 
 

 

Used all of the lights! 😂

 

HSB’s?? 

I agree that it is beautiful.   Love the colors... It is not Mammoth and those are HSBs....I am trying to think ... which 3 fauna in our hunting area have HSBs...  Tapir ,  Rhino,  and Horse.... I think this is one of the latter.. BUT I have never seen Transverse HSBs staring back at me from a Horse Tooth...

[Coco]

Hi,

 

What does HSB mean ? I guess it’s the lines on both the outside and the cut.

 

Please, when you put acronyms, could you put it in its entirety the first time in your post with its acronym in brackets next to it, and so we, the non-English speakers, would know the meaning of these letters. Thanks.

 

Coco

[Balance]

@Coco Sorry about that. I honestly abbreviate it because I can remember how to spell the second guys last name. 

 

Have a great day!

 

Jp
 

 

 

Edited May 7 by Balance

[Coco]

Okay, thanks, but I’m not sure I remember it the next time I see the acronym My memory isn’t what it used to be...

 

Coco

[Balance]

My Daughter, LA  is in Cub Scouts. If you were not aware (like me) Cub scouts and Boy Scouts of America are now just “Scouts of America”. So it’s fully co-ed. I had written off scouting after having two daughters. That was disappointing because scouting was a very stable part of an unstable earlier life. Then one day my Tom boy came excitedly into the shop with a request to join “scouts”. Long story short. She’s now a Webelo and I somehow ended up a Den leader. 😂🤷🏼‍♂️

 

One of my task is to provide fun stuff to do at our meetings but also teach them stuff. Gotta sneak the teaching in. 😉 Hopefully, later in life they remember these projects made them happy or excited, and unexpectedly find themselves on a path into a career or hobby. You know, kinda like how a farrier becomes hooked on fossils because it involves the woods, treasure hunting, and horse bones. 2 parts Childhood mixed with 1 part Adult. I’ll have to remember that mixture in case I forget why I’m doing this later. 😊. 
 

So I digress. This past week was Florida geology and the ages of what you can find in various areas. It was an add on to our previous fossil project which they really took to. The kids all brought in rocks and fossils and tested them at different stations like vinegar, flame, hardness etc. The highlight was my partner (works for the county surveyor) brought in a 1982 Florida Geological map. It was incredible.!!  
 

Yes. The kids did great and had fun blah, blah blah…. 😉 but look at that map!! It’s the size of a VW Bug! It’s made from that amazing not plastic but also not paper material from 1980’s maps. Remember the ones that pulled down like those roller blinds!!😂😂 

 

See, never know when your gonna get excited. I would never have guessed an old geologist map would make my day. Looks like I was the excited kid this meeting. 
 

Sadly, my attempts to heist it away were thwarted multiple times. There’s even another map of just the panhandle still in the tube 🫣🫣

 

Jp
 

 

Edited May 10 by Balance

[Balance]

“It is not they who give the life, it is you who give the life, Leaves are not more shed from the trees, or trees from the earth, than they are shed out of you.” Uncle Walt. 
 

 

River is nasty. Rain is no where to be seen. Spirits are down. 
 

An adventure must be taken! Recharge the mind. Look for the unknown. Do it with glory but do it before 11am because it’s so hot, y’all. 

 

Today was a day for exploration. A day to try out an untested theory and see if it would pay off. Hopes were high. In Polk county there’s no shortage of public access phosphate lakes. These are reclamation areas from former mines. This particular mine was in operation until the 80’s. The reclamation took place after the county  bought the property for a youth sports complex. Refuse from the old brick streets, city construction , and an unknown amount of phosphate mining flotsam and jetsam we used to fill large sections and fortify the banks. 40 years later the front 200 acres is pristine sports fields, a dog park and playground. The back 450 acres is fully wild again with miles of mountain biking trails that flank the old mine edges making for some challenging but rewarding trails. South of this property the working mines start again so if you get into the way back it’s extremely quiet. 

 

I barrowed a bud’s beater canoe and troller set up for the morning instead of trying to use my mud  boat. The plan was to take advantage of a drought we are in and cruise the shoreline areas where the water normally is. I wanted to go slow and shallow but also right against the bank. These step banks get undercut and I was hoping something interesting might have eroded out over the years. With the water down 5 ft from normal I was not disappointed in finding undercuts. 
 

 

After several lakes and not a single thing of interest I floated over a strange mussel, sand bar pile out in the middle of the lake. 

 

The sand bar kept going. Getting shallower until I ran into a bank. My excitement was way up when I saw the gravel eroding from the banks undercut. Could something have fallen out and be there?!?  Yes, a brick. Red road brick to be exact. Further investigation revealed my efforts here were probably fruitless. Seems “Re-Worked” material is an understatement… 

 

I find shoes everywhere!! Put your shoes on, Florida. (Also: this shoe is stuck upside down on the ceiling of the undercut🤯)

 

I called off the search completely after I ran into an example of site erosion management that I had previously explained to @dries85  

 

what do you see? Answer is below the photo

 

If you said limerock that’s what made me head over there for a closer look. Zoom in… The sneaky but unmistakable “bags of concrete mix” used as building blocks. Guess this bluff needed some refortification.

 

😂 man did I chuckle when I realized I fell for this. 

 

Some cool bluffs were exposed on the trip back towards the truck. Looked like a cut through rock. I looked them over but it’s actually a type solidified sandpack and crumbles in your hand😕

 

So no fossils today. Not even the idea of a fossil. What I did find was enough knowledge of reclaimed phosphate mine banks to know these types of places are just too mixed up for fun stuff anymore. Being that the 80’s was when all mines had to start reclaiming property, every reclaimed lake open to the public now is probably a mix of the same mess. 

 

Till the next time. Hopefully with something to show. Nature sent me home empty handed but definitely not empty in spirit. 
 

Enjoy. Turn up your volume to max for full  cicada effect!! 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 27 by Balance

[Jaybot]

9 hours ago, Balance said:

Do it with glory but do it before 11am because it’s so hot, y’all. 

 

Nice report, despite the lack of fossils.  Always nice to cross out a spot, even if that means a fossil-less day.

Ironically, we are facing the opposite river problems here in the midwest- we are getting a lot of rain, and the rivers and creeks are too flooded!  No gravel bars to look at.

 

[Shellseeker]

Knowledge,  Jp  You have a memory,  solo in the back woods and you know stuff that few others do. From the photos, it almost looks lifeless... fish,  birds,  gators.  Thanks for sharing.

[Balance]

@Jaybot Absolutely. I think I said something pretty close to that as I was packing up.
 

 My gut says we’re in for a much longer drought than people think. I absolutely hope I’m wrong but “outside” is different. It’s May still and was 105F with the heat index yesterday. The sea breeze makes our rain. It pushes across the state from the gulf and hits the hot air inland. right now it’s not able to get far enough inland and meet the wall of hot air.  Unfortunately I live in the hot air… 

 

Jp

[Balance]

@Shellseeker This is why we’re are friends. You can feel that vibe. Not see, feel. 

 

There’s wildlife but it’s extremely minimal. I first noticed the lack of Alligators. Mating season and 100+ degrees those things should have been in the water and active. I saw two. A 3 ft and a 4ft. So I’m guessing they have the state gator trappers hunt in there to keep it safer for people. 
 

My granddad and Uncle both taught me gators don’t like phosphate lakes because they are two deep for them, banks are too steep to get out, and they don’t like the bottom (I’m guessing it’s that environmental waste clay stuck we find stuck to the river bottom in areas by the mines). That was in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Back then reclaimed areas were still freshly done and you could tell a phosphate lake because it would be that pretty blue green color instead of muck lake color. These days the reclaimed lakes look like a regular lake so I don’t know if that’s still a factor. Definitely drops off immediately to passed my long pole after the little bank ledge. 
 

I saw 10 birds in 4 hours.1 green heron, 5 cormorants, and 4 of those brown speckled waders that walk the waters edge. Zero birds of prey. Which made me wonder if there were fish. People bank fish for bluegill but I don’t know how popular it is with the bass fishing group. The same water depth thought made me wonder if the fish are too deep for the birds. Apparently some of those fingers are 30+ ft deep. 
 

Zero land animal sign. Not a slide, water trail, nothing. Not even hog rooting!! Again. Most places there’s a good drop from edge to the water… the mountain biking probably has more to do with that though. 
 

Definitely not on my return list but the above listed void of creatures is great for teaching the Cub Scout canoeing stuff.  I will have to note that for the fall. 
 

Jp

[automech]

Jp, textbook example of nothing ventured, nothing gained. I've wondered about all those, perfectly shaped, lakes whenever I look at maps of the Peace. Nice pictures though.