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AUTHOR OF NINE BOOKS
I will be at the Sharonville/ Cincinatti Rock show March 1,2, and 3. Our store has hundreds of fossils for sale and we should have all of them there with us. Cystoids, Kemmerer fish, Polished ammonites, petrified wood, Meg teeth on and on and on.
We have affordable specimens as well as high quality museum specimens.
Recently We have purchased nearly 50 trilobites from Markus Martin, well known trilobite expert. He personally collected and prepared these museum quality bugs. We also have dozens of Eldredgeops that just came back from the prep lab, Ollenellus from Pennsylvania, Elrathia, Asaphiscus, Bolaspidella from Utah, Dalamanites and Calymene from New York, Oklahoma pachiphacops, RARE bugs from Quebec and the list goes on.
If you are in the Cinci area stop by and say hello.
We have affordable specimens as well as high quality museum specimens.
Recently We have purchased nearly 50 trilobites from Markus Martin, well known trilobite expert. He personally collected and prepared these museum quality bugs. We also have dozens of Eldredgeops that just came back from the prep lab, Ollenellus from Pennsylvania, Elrathia, Asaphiscus, Bolaspidella from Utah, Dalamanites and Calymene from New York, Oklahoma pachiphacops, RARE bugs from Quebec and the list goes on.
If you are in the Cinci area stop by and say hello.
Several weeks ago I wrote a facebook post on Epibionts found on Paraspirifer brachiopods. They were aulopora corals.
An epibiont is an organism that lives on the surface of another living organism. Normally they are harmless to its host creature.
Today I am showing another epibiont on a different spriferid (Mediospirifer) but still from the Silica Shale of Ohio.
These photos show inarticulate brachiopods attached to the surface of the Mediospirifer and also scars from where other inarticulate brachiopods were either torn or fell off.
An inarticulate brachiopod is one that has no hinge, most brachiopods have a two piece hinged shell. These do not. It is believed that the inarticulates would attach themselves to the other creature in order to move with it to perhaps a better feeding area or at least be exposed to more food.
At one time this brachiopod had 7 inarticulates getting a free ride.
Photo 1
Mediosprifer audaculus with 3 inarticulate brachiopods
Devonian Period
Silica Shale Formation
Sylvania, Ohio
Photo 2 scars of where inarticulate brachiopods were attached.
Photo 3 scars on a different area where 2 more were attached.
An epibiont is an organism that lives on the surface of another living organism. Normally they are harmless to its host creature.
Today I am showing another epibiont on a different spriferid (Mediospirifer) but still from the Silica Shale of Ohio.
These photos show inarticulate brachiopods attached to the surface of the Mediospirifer and also scars from where other inarticulate brachiopods were either torn or fell off.
An inarticulate brachiopod is one that has no hinge, most brachiopods have a two piece hinged shell. These do not. It is believed that the inarticulates would attach themselves to the other creature in order to move with it to perhaps a better feeding area or at least be exposed to more food.
At one time this brachiopod had 7 inarticulates getting a free ride.
Photo 1
Mediosprifer audaculus with 3 inarticulate brachiopods
Devonian Period
Silica Shale Formation
Sylvania, Ohio
Photo 2 scars of where inarticulate brachiopods were attached.
Photo 3 scars on a different area where 2 more were attached.
OMPHALOCIRRUS manatobensis
These are some really special fossils I found in Rogers City, Michigan. These are Gastropods, Ammonites had not yet really begun to populate the seas, we had ammonoids (primitive ammonites) but these are gastropods or commonly known as snails. They range in size from around 1 inch in diameter to about the size of a dinner plate.
Gastropods or snails are in the group of animals called mollusks. They can be found today in fresh and salt water and some are also found on land.
These are marine gastropods and they are coiled. I have found some rare straight-shelled gastropods that were originally described in the 1930's from the Ferron Point Formation. I will do a post on those at a later date.
These are INTERNAL molds of the creature. Most of the time in the Rogers City Limestone formation this is all we find. Rarely do you find the external shell of the gastropod. The second photo is one that is partially covered by calcite crystals. There must have been a void in the rock and as water percolated through the sediment it deposited calcite in the void creating these crystals.
I have found these from Just north of Alpena to Rogers City, but mostly they are found in the area around Rogers City.
OMPHALOCIRRUS manatobensis
Devonian Period
Rogers City Limestone
Rogers City, Michigan
These are some really special fossils I found in Rogers City, Michigan. These are Gastropods, Ammonites had not yet really begun to populate the seas, we had ammonoids (primitive ammonites) but these are gastropods or commonly known as snails. They range in size from around 1 inch in diameter to about the size of a dinner plate.
Gastropods or snails are in the group of animals called mollusks. They can be found today in fresh and salt water and some are also found on land.
These are marine gastropods and they are coiled. I have found some rare straight-shelled gastropods that were originally described in the 1930's from the Ferron Point Formation. I will do a post on those at a later date.
These are INTERNAL molds of the creature. Most of the time in the Rogers City Limestone formation this is all we find. Rarely do you find the external shell of the gastropod. The second photo is one that is partially covered by calcite crystals. There must have been a void in the rock and as water percolated through the sediment it deposited calcite in the void creating these crystals.
I have found these from Just north of Alpena to Rogers City, but mostly they are found in the area around Rogers City.
OMPHALOCIRRUS manatobensis
Devonian Period
Rogers City Limestone
Rogers City, Michigan
-2 degrees outside this morning and dreaming of the warm Butte in Wyoming. Today just a brief post on Kemmerer.
If you have a bucket list of places to visit to dig fossils, this should be on it.
The video at the end is a short 41 second video of how I dig there and how easy it is to find fish.
One of my favorites. Warfield Quarry Kemmerer Wyoming. It is buried under lots of snow right now but a GREAT location to vacation and find lots of prehistoric fish.
This area is well known for the exceptional preservation of fossil fish. The fossils are Eocene in age roughly 50 Million years old. The area was once a huge 930 square mile lake of which about 500 square miles remain.
The chemistry of the lake is what preserved the fossils so well.
The sediment is layered with laminated limestone, the creatures were buried very quickly and relatively no scavenging took place so the fossils are beautifully preserved.
Check out their website or google Warfield Quarry for more info. It is a great vacation if you travel out west. many of my facebook friends have already been there, maybe they will post some comments.
I have hundreds of pictures too many to post, just a few here, enjoy.
Fossilized Eocene fish
Eocene Period
Warfield Quarry (pay to dig site open to the public)
Kemmerer, Wyoming
Picture 1 Plate of 4 KNIGHTIA
Picture 2 Me with a PHAREODUS
Picture 3 The PHAREODUS closeup
Picture 4 KNIGHTIA
Picture 5 Pile of fish fossils and tools
Picture 6 Sign to Warfield
Picture 7 Some of the fish found in 3 hours
Picture 8 large block of fish, getting ready to cut them down.
Picture 9 PaleoJoe and PaleoJen having a good time
Picture 10 PaleoJen and a block of fish.
For more pictures and stories check out paleojoe.com
If you have a bucket list of places to visit to dig fossils, this should be on it.
The video at the end is a short 41 second video of how I dig there and how easy it is to find fish.
One of my favorites. Warfield Quarry Kemmerer Wyoming. It is buried under lots of snow right now but a GREAT location to vacation and find lots of prehistoric fish.
This area is well known for the exceptional preservation of fossil fish. The fossils are Eocene in age roughly 50 Million years old. The area was once a huge 930 square mile lake of which about 500 square miles remain.
The chemistry of the lake is what preserved the fossils so well.
The sediment is layered with laminated limestone, the creatures were buried very quickly and relatively no scavenging took place so the fossils are beautifully preserved.
Check out their website or google Warfield Quarry for more info. It is a great vacation if you travel out west. many of my facebook friends have already been there, maybe they will post some comments.
I have hundreds of pictures too many to post, just a few here, enjoy.
Fossilized Eocene fish
Eocene Period
Warfield Quarry (pay to dig site open to the public)
Kemmerer, Wyoming
Picture 1 Plate of 4 KNIGHTIA
Picture 2 Me with a PHAREODUS
Picture 3 The PHAREODUS closeup
Picture 4 KNIGHTIA
Picture 5 Pile of fish fossils and tools
Picture 6 Sign to Warfield
Picture 7 Some of the fish found in 3 hours
Picture 8 large block of fish, getting ready to cut them down.
Picture 9 PaleoJoe and PaleoJen having a good time
Picture 10 PaleoJen and a block of fish.
For more pictures and stories check out paleojoe.com
Trilobite For Today
METOPOLICHAS breviceps.
I still remember the day I went to Waldron, Indiana and dug through the Silurian deposit in an old quarry. That place is now closed to the public. There was a spoils pile there and I like to poke around to see what I could find in old piles. Well, I found this partial of the Metopolichas. I asked a trilobite buddy of mine for a quick ID and he nearly went nuts. This is a rare bug especially he said that is the best and thickest exoskeleton he had ever seen and by the look of it, it was a complete specimen. He jumped right in next to me and we both looked through the pile for an additional hour and did not find the rest. 😞
I still dream about this guy from time to time, thinking what might have been.
METOPOLICHAS breviceps
Silurian Period
Waldron Shale.
Waldron, Indiana.
METOPOLICHAS breviceps.
I still remember the day I went to Waldron, Indiana and dug through the Silurian deposit in an old quarry. That place is now closed to the public. There was a spoils pile there and I like to poke around to see what I could find in old piles. Well, I found this partial of the Metopolichas. I asked a trilobite buddy of mine for a quick ID and he nearly went nuts. This is a rare bug especially he said that is the best and thickest exoskeleton he had ever seen and by the look of it, it was a complete specimen. He jumped right in next to me and we both looked through the pile for an additional hour and did not find the rest. 😞
I still dream about this guy from time to time, thinking what might have been.
METOPOLICHAS breviceps
Silurian Period
Waldron Shale.
Waldron, Indiana.
First of all, Thanks to all the viewers who looked at, commented and shared my post on the Hexagonaria/Petoskey Stone. That was a popular post. Also for people in the groups I don't often post to, please friend me on facebook or check out my facebook post for lots more fossil related posts or check out my website www.paleojoe.com
Today I am posting a large 14 inch by 15 inch Block from the Calvert Cliffs of Maryland.
If you travel to Maryland on vacation this is an area (and the museum) that is a must. A bucket list trip.
Warning - you are not allowed to remove anything from the cliffs, only surface collecting allowed and best time is at low tide.
This is a block with exceptional preservation and obviously very showy. The block, when found over 30 years ago was still very soft with the material falling off it quite easily.
In order to stabilize the block and all the creatures on it, it was heavily brushed with white glue and water and left to dry. Then immersed in a mixture of white glue and water. This mixture set the sand particles and the shells to the block thereby stabilizing the entire piece.
I use this technique from time to time to stabilize large soft fossilized chunks of the sea floor. In many cases this is not necessary but in this case it was critical to the overall appearance of the piece. There are many types of shells on this piece. Scallops, Barnacles, oysters, gastropods and clams and lots of stuff I haven't id'd yet.
Chesapecten neffrens scallop
Chesapecten marylandica scallop
Pycnodonte crassa oyster
Isognomon maxilotta oyster
Chesacardium cockleshell
Balanus concavus barnacle
Miocene Period
Calvert Cliffs
Maryland
Today I am posting a large 14 inch by 15 inch Block from the Calvert Cliffs of Maryland.
If you travel to Maryland on vacation this is an area (and the museum) that is a must. A bucket list trip.
Warning - you are not allowed to remove anything from the cliffs, only surface collecting allowed and best time is at low tide.
This is a block with exceptional preservation and obviously very showy. The block, when found over 30 years ago was still very soft with the material falling off it quite easily.
In order to stabilize the block and all the creatures on it, it was heavily brushed with white glue and water and left to dry. Then immersed in a mixture of white glue and water. This mixture set the sand particles and the shells to the block thereby stabilizing the entire piece.
I use this technique from time to time to stabilize large soft fossilized chunks of the sea floor. In many cases this is not necessary but in this case it was critical to the overall appearance of the piece. There are many types of shells on this piece. Scallops, Barnacles, oysters, gastropods and clams and lots of stuff I haven't id'd yet.
Chesapecten neffrens scallop
Chesapecten marylandica scallop
Pycnodonte crassa oyster
Isognomon maxilotta oyster
Chesacardium cockleshell
Balanus concavus barnacle
Miocene Period
Calvert Cliffs
Maryland
UPDATE - I have listed 6 "Petoskey Stones" on my website store in the recently added sections. www.paleojoe.com/recently-added-products/
Gonna Do those Pesky Petoskey Stones.
Hexagonaria coral, a colonial coral is common in the state of Michigan. We were once the bottom of a salt water tropical sea. We know that because today corals grow in warm shallow tropical seas (or in my salt water aquarium..he he.)
These corals when washed up on beaches around Michigan today have been tumbled by water waves and sand, smoothing them out and at least in the water making those beautiful designs appear.
When taken out of the water they lose that and get chalky white. It is only when you polish them or get them wet do they exhibit that great detail.
Soooo.... it is not a Petoskey Stone until you polish it, in it's natural state it is a hexagonaria coral.
HEXAGONARIA
Devonian Period
Across Michigan and sometimes surrounding Great Lakes States - thanks to glacial activity.
Can you tell that I am bored because the snow is piling up outside.
I will be putting some of these up for sale on my paleojoe.com website store later today in case anyone is interested. Check after noon EST.
Gonna Do those Pesky Petoskey Stones.
Hexagonaria coral, a colonial coral is common in the state of Michigan. We were once the bottom of a salt water tropical sea. We know that because today corals grow in warm shallow tropical seas (or in my salt water aquarium..he he.)
These corals when washed up on beaches around Michigan today have been tumbled by water waves and sand, smoothing them out and at least in the water making those beautiful designs appear.
When taken out of the water they lose that and get chalky white. It is only when you polish them or get them wet do they exhibit that great detail.
Soooo.... it is not a Petoskey Stone until you polish it, in it's natural state it is a hexagonaria coral.
HEXAGONARIA
Devonian Period
Across Michigan and sometimes surrounding Great Lakes States - thanks to glacial activity.
Can you tell that I am bored because the snow is piling up outside.
I will be putting some of these up for sale on my paleojoe.com website store later today in case anyone is interested. Check after noon EST.
Well since it is winter here in Michigan, I will be doing fossil puzzles. One of these puzzles is the remains of a skull cap from a PROTITANICHTHYS a Devonian Placoderm fish.
I discovered it two summers ago now and have put it together - mostly. Now the painstaking process of putting in the smaller pieces.
3 years ago I found a median dorsal segment. It was NOT found associated but in the second picture below I placed it in the approximate position as it would have looked. They are NOT the right size to be placed together, but it gives you a GENERAL idea of what the top of the fish looked like.
PROTITANICHTHYS sp.
Devonian Period
Long Lake Formation
Alpena, Michigan
The Placoderms were "Armor-plated" fish. Their skull and trunk were covered by hard bony osteoderms. It is these hard parts that fossilized as they fell to the bottom of the ancient tropical seas that once covered much of the Midwest.
Picture 1 is the skull cap
Picture 2 is the skull cap and median dorsal
Picture 3 shows some of the pieces yet to go
In picture 3 there is also an anteriodorsal from the right side.(upper left of the picture)
Picture 4 is a representation of a coccosteid to which the Protitanichtys belong.
I discovered it two summers ago now and have put it together - mostly. Now the painstaking process of putting in the smaller pieces.
3 years ago I found a median dorsal segment. It was NOT found associated but in the second picture below I placed it in the approximate position as it would have looked. They are NOT the right size to be placed together, but it gives you a GENERAL idea of what the top of the fish looked like.
PROTITANICHTHYS sp.
Devonian Period
Long Lake Formation
Alpena, Michigan
The Placoderms were "Armor-plated" fish. Their skull and trunk were covered by hard bony osteoderms. It is these hard parts that fossilized as they fell to the bottom of the ancient tropical seas that once covered much of the Midwest.
Picture 1 is the skull cap
Picture 2 is the skull cap and median dorsal
Picture 3 shows some of the pieces yet to go
In picture 3 there is also an anteriodorsal from the right side.(upper left of the picture)
Picture 4 is a representation of a coccosteid to which the Protitanichtys belong.
Gastropods commonly called Snails.
The first is a great example of a Silurian snail from the Rochester Shale formation.
The second is a spectacular PLEUROTOMARIA from the Devonian of Alpena, Michigan.
The third is a nice LOXONEMA sp. from the Mississippian found in the Blue Ridge Esker.
Gastropods belong to the phylum Mollusca. The class of fossil Gastropoda in my collection is comprised of snails from saltwater. I have not yet found any freshwater snails in my travels.
Today snails can be found in salt and freshwater as well as on land.
1. NATICONEMA niagarensis
Silurian Period
Rochester Shale Formation
Caleb's Quarry
Middleport, New York
2. PLEUROTOMARIA sp.
Devonian Period
Ferron Point Formation
Lakeshore, North of Alpena, Michigan
3. LOXONEMA sp.
Mississippian
Marshal Sandstone
Blue Ridge Esker
Jackson, Michigan
The first is a great example of a Silurian snail from the Rochester Shale formation.
The second is a spectacular PLEUROTOMARIA from the Devonian of Alpena, Michigan.
The third is a nice LOXONEMA sp. from the Mississippian found in the Blue Ridge Esker.
Gastropods belong to the phylum Mollusca. The class of fossil Gastropoda in my collection is comprised of snails from saltwater. I have not yet found any freshwater snails in my travels.
Today snails can be found in salt and freshwater as well as on land.
1. NATICONEMA niagarensis
Silurian Period
Rochester Shale Formation
Caleb's Quarry
Middleport, New York
2. PLEUROTOMARIA sp.
Devonian Period
Ferron Point Formation
Lakeshore, North of Alpena, Michigan
3. LOXONEMA sp.
Mississippian
Marshal Sandstone
Blue Ridge Esker
Jackson, Michigan
So many liked my Hi-Res of the GREENOPS last week and asked for more so one last one before I post other Fossil Stuff.
These are a classic trilobites from a classic location. Often found in large death assemblages in the rich black shales of Ontario, these Asaphids are quite common in the deposits they are found in. The are very compressed and often have a whitish film on them. The first one is classic and came from Bowmanville, but the second I received from a friend and I don't know its exact origin. What is interesting is that parts of the thin exoskeleton are still attached to the trilobite which is rare for this area.
Pseudogygites latimarginatus
Ordovician Period
Whitby Formation
Bowmanville, Ontario
These are a classic trilobites from a classic location. Often found in large death assemblages in the rich black shales of Ontario, these Asaphids are quite common in the deposits they are found in. The are very compressed and often have a whitish film on them. The first one is classic and came from Bowmanville, but the second I received from a friend and I don't know its exact origin. What is interesting is that parts of the thin exoskeleton are still attached to the trilobite which is rare for this area.
Pseudogygites latimarginatus
Ordovician Period
Whitby Formation
Bowmanville, Ontario
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