Florida Foray

[minnbuckeye]

We took a spring trip to Florida in March and it started off on the right foot when we turned down the road to our motel and saw this street sign! Hopefully a good omen for things to come.

 

Many sharks teeth were collected from the Gulf of Mexico's surf. The shorebirds, including this Willet, loved following us along, they looking for a snack and us looking for teeth.

 

 

 

 

 

As much fun sifting shark's teeth in the surf is, my preferred objective was to slip off to Cookie Cutter Creek and collect micro matrix in hopes of finding a few teeth from Isistius brasiliensis, the cookie cutter shark. A picture of the creek show it is recovering from the dredging that took place a few years ago. So hopes of accomplishing my goal ran high. 

 

 

 

Success was not realized until returning home and  processing some matrix. There it was, nestled between the grains of sand! Most of the micro matrix brought home will be given away to those who enjoy the dainty finds within it.

 

 

Also found in the matrix was this vertebrae from a TINY mammal. Even smaller than the shark tooth.

 

 

In addition to the creek hunt and beach combing, I did explore some land exposures looking to add new specimens to my large collection of Tamiami gastropods, corals and bivalves. I will burden you with just a few odd ones that I liked. 

 

First up is a weathered Strombus with a coral colony and an oyster using it as home.

 

 

Staying with the same theme, here is a Nassarius overwhelmed by the attachment of barnicles.

 

 

The next gastropod, Melongena subcoronata also came as a "twofer". When it came to cleaning this shell up, I was surprised that it had an occupant, and it wasn't a hermit crab! And no I did not take the bug home.

 

 

 

While collecting fossil shells, I came across this nice Mako tooth, I believe Carcharodon hastalis is correct. It was a pleasant surprise.

 

 

This year I had the privilege of fossilin with a few friends, one being a forum member, @Shellseeker. I so enjoy hoofing it through the wild Floridian forest to get to out of the way locations. And the selected location paid off! The hunt was once again the highlight of my trip! Plenty of nice fossils were found but unfortunately, I somehow misplaced, or lost as my wife always points out, the best of my finds. If or WHEN they are located, I will add to this trip report. In the mean time, my hunting partners gifted these gems to me.

 

 

Tapir tooth

 

 

And finally this prize from Jack. Thanks so much!

 

 

 

 

I mistakenly thought these teeth were silky shark. @Al Dente said "Nice finds. These teeth are Negaprion."

 

 

The only flaw in this fossil foray was loosing one of our members in the woods as we left for home. Jack, did you ever find him or is he still out there? LOL

 

We did head north for a few days to the Crystal Springs/ Yankeetown area for fossilin and Manatee watching. The /Crystal River, being spring fed stays warm in the winter months and attract Manatees fleeing the cold Gulf of Mexico water. 

 

A photo of the Crystal River.

 

 

And a photo of us snorkeling with Manatee!

 

 

 

Echinoids are what the area is known for. The most common is the urchin, Eupatagus.

 

 

This "double" was my favorite!

 

 

A much smaller, unidentified urchin.

 

 

We took a few hours on our return trip to visit Honeymoon Bay in search of geodized coral. Success was had, but a friend is prepping the coral. I will show it off later. It is special. 

As we trekked south, a stop was made at Norman Love's Confections in Sarasota hoping to top the trip off with a special desert like Jack gave to wifey for Valentines Day (see his post). It is called the "Chocolate Bomb". Five different chocolates and a special "cherry" on top. Jack, you split yours with your wife. I was thinking of my wife and ordered two bombs so she wouldn't have to share  with me.

 

 

After such a scrumptious dessert, I was ready to vegitate and what better way to accomplish this than taking in the evening's sunset. Hope you enjoyed our trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ClearLake]

Glad you had a good trip Mike!  Looks like some nice finds.  Those are some nice clean echinoids out of the Ocala, did you clean them up already or find them like that?   My trip to Florida early last month was not as successful fossil-wise, but still a good trip.  Cookie cutter Creek matrix, that would have been a good idea, I should have thought of that.  Of course when I was there, it was probably under water -haha.  Some of your pictures are not showing up for me, not sure why.

[Sacha]

Sorry I couldn't get you out there Mike. Had a great time with my family, though. I still have the 2nd kayak so we can do it next time.

[Al Dente]

33 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

My only find I did not loose was a new tooth to me, the Silky Shark.  I found not one, not two, but THREE of them.

Nice finds. These teeth are Negaprion. Here’s a modern dentition from here.

 

 

[Darktooth]

Great report Mike! Sounds like you had a great time! Also you made some nice finds. Congratulations!

[FossilDAWG]

Excellent report about an exceptionally fun trip.  Thanks for bringing us along.

 

BTW I also cannot see the 1st, 4th, and 5th photos, although the others I can see.

 

Don

[SPrice]

11 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Excellent report about an exceptionally fun trip.  Thanks for bringing us along.

 

BTW I also cannot see the 1st, 4th, and 5th photos, although the others I can see.

 

Don

 

 

Same here. I think Kane is informed of the unseeable images. 

 

I see this:

 

 

Great report and pics. Can't wait for some weather that isn't snow. Got two days of sun next week...going south to make the most of it.

 

Steve

[Shellseeker]

4 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

The only flaw in this fossil foray was loosing one of our members in the woods as we left for home. Jack, did you ever find him or is he still out there? LOL

 

Well,  Mike I did go hunting with him today.  He seemed no worse for the wear ,  but we have been using Kayaks lately to keep us all from getting lost in the woods. 

 

4 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

We took a few hours on our return trip to visit Honeymoon Bay in search of geodized coral. Success was had, but a friend is prepping the coral. I will show it off later. It is special. 

As we trekked south, a stop was made at Norman Love's Confections in Sarasota hoping to top the trip off with a special desert like Jack gave to wifey for Valentines Day (see his post). It is called the "Chocolate Bomb". Five different chocolates and a special "cherry" on top. Jack, you split yours with your wife. I was thinking of my wife and ordered two bombs so she wouldn't have to share  with me.

 

 

Mike ,  I am pleased to see that you have made significant improvements to my initial recommendation !!!

Also,  you saw that Blue/Brown Megalodon come out of the Peace River... A rare combination.  Usually the Tannic acid from a dark water river turns them black roots on dark blade.. You definitely made the most of this trip.

[digit]

14 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

The next gastropod, Melongena subcoronata also came as a "twofer". When it came to cleaning this shell up, I was surprised that it had an occupant, and it wasn't a hermit crab! And no I did not take the bug home.

 

 

YIKES! It's the dreaded Yellow-banded Millipede (Anadenobolus monilicornis). This is an introduced (aka invasive exotic) species from the Caribbean. When I lived in South Florida this species became quite the pest. There were literally thousands of them in the leaf litter in my yard. Wouldn't have been too bad had they stayed there but they have a habit of making their way into homes to have a look around (and dying there). I can remember using a "dust buster" to vacuum up dozens of them every morning--and they get really stinky when they die so this was not a pleasant daily task. Heavy rains (during the summer) seemed to drive many inside. It didn't take long to start to loath this invasive species (Florida has no shortage of them with some 50 new species arriving in Florida every year--and I'm not talking about "snow birds").

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anadenobolus_monilicornis

 

Love the trip report!

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[digit]

15 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

As for fossils, this little gastropod stood out as a beauty, being completely silicified. I only wish it's beauty revealed itself in the photo.

 

 

I remember finding lots of these modern land snails while picking through micro-matrix. It is not the Architechtonica nobilis as you thought but Polygyra coereolus, the Southern Flatcoil. Roger Portell of the FLMNH helped me understand this species.

 

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/panama-pire/fossils/gatun/architectonica-nobilis/

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygyra_cereolus

http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio210/f2012/bastean_kyle/habitat.htm

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/gastro/terrestrial_snails.htm

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Family Fun]

Great report and finds. lol at losing someone, hopefully they are no worse off for it. 
 

Rick

[TRout]

What a fun looking trip and great report! It's nice seeing the scenery and the variety of fossils from the different locations and formations from around Florida. I especially love the cookiecutter shark tooth. That's at the top of my list of fossils that I'd like to find.

[digit]

On 3/31/2024 at 5:20 PM, minnbuckeye said:

A picture of the creek show it is recovering from the dredging that took place a few years ago.

So funny that I recognize that tree.

 

It is still a remarkable creek and the only known source of Isistius triangulus in Florida--go figure!

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Yoda]

@minnbuckeye

Looks like you had a fantastic trip.

And some really nice finds 

[Jeffrey P]

Great report Mike. Excellent photos and finds. Looks like you made very productive use of your time there and as a result came away with some remarkable finds. Congratulations and thanks for sharing these. Best wishes.