docdutronc Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 I found these strange circular shapes in a Carboniferous shale from northern France, they are of different sizes and range from 5 mm to 10 mm, I need help identifying these strange bodies that are associated with freshwater bivalvia : anthraconauta minima ,thank 's bruno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 Bruno, I think that you may have found an important fossil! I have never seen anything just like it; my guess is that it is a soft-bodied animal, perhaps a cnidarian or a worm of some sort. I will continue to search for anything known that is remotely similar. Could the site have been lagunal or occasionally brackish? A periodic influx of salt water could have briefly introduced some planktonic marine organisms also. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docdutronc Posted April 18, 2009 Author Share Posted April 18, 2009 Bruno, I think that you may have found an important fossil!I have never seen anything just like it; my guess is that it is a soft-bodied animal, perhaps a cnidarian or a worm of some sort. I will continue to search for anything known that is remotely similar. Could the site have been lagunal or occasionally brackish? A periodic influx of salt water could have briefly introduced some planktonic marine organisms also. Hi Auspex not BRACKISH, there was no arrival of salt water is a pure "liminique" basin , there are small bivalves on the same shale, there is today cnidarians craspedacusta, a small freshwater meduse ...., it is medusoids like body.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFossils Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 I agree that it appears to be some type of medusa. Very unusaul to see something like that preserved in a shale deposit. I am aware of one undescribed jellyfish that was collected in the Mecca Shale of Illinois. Congratulations on a nice find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossilcollector Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 Do you have more pictures of examples? At the moment I'm leaning towards mineralogical/geological process rather than fossil. Something diagenetic or concretionary. Mainly the areas that look like arms look more like natural radial cracking. -YvW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 Do you have more pictures of examples?At the moment I'm leaning towards mineralogical/geological process rather than fossil. Something diagenetic or concretionary. Mainly the areas that look like arms look more like natural radial cracking. -YvW I agree that the parting plane of the shale has introduced it's texture; I don't interpret them as "arms". The radial symmetry within the "donut" is very interesting, though, especially the "ripple" that I've marked: "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now