A surprise, last minute trip to Cape Cod pulled me away from the blog last week. Between that and my last two bw posts of NYC I found myself missing my fossils! So I decided to return today with a full body of fossil images. They seem to be gaining more drama lately.
For those of you unfamiliar with these 387 million year old former denizens of my neighborhood I’ll attempt to provide identification (as best I can). Above are several types of coral accompanied by an impression of a trilobite pygidium (center left).
Not exactly sure what this is. The pattern suggests to me some form of coral.
Coral.
Cephalopods. I count at least four in this cluster.
One lone cephalopod.
An interesting mix – resting atop a brachiopod is part of the head (cephalon) and eye of a trilobite. That long dark cylinder I believe might be a small crinoid stem.
I can only think this is a slice of a brachiopod.
Sitting atop a bed of coral is a small rock loaded with crinoid ossicles (the round things). They essentially stacked to form the stem of the crinoid.
Brachiopods
Another brachiopod with some coral in the upper left.
Yet another brachiopod! Actually, there were some 12,000 or more various types.
And these (yes, brachiopods also) are different – they are the only fossils in this post not from the Catskill area. I dug them up several years ago while on a trip to Nashville.
A mess of fossils sitting out on an old table.
And, last but certainly not least, are a group of tentaculites, something I seldom find around here. I came across these along Kaaterskill Creek. I particularly love this one as it reminds me of an old retro sci-fi rocket ship! Fossils and rocket ships put a smile on my face!!
Thanks for the visit.
artandfossils 
Another beautiful series, Art.
Thanks Ken – always a pleasure to hear from you. I hope Summer is treating you well! >
Beautiful! A question: How do you distinguish between a coral like the one in your third fossil photograph and a cephalopod like the one in the next photo?
Hi Linda – Good to hear from you. The highlighted words are links to fuller descriptions (way better that I could do!) and comparing them that way should help answer your question. I can tell you, simply from a visual standpoint, you’ll notice the lines perpendicular to the length of the cephalopod (which the coral does not have). They mark off sections of growth. Also, the coral is smaller than a finger whereas the cephalopods photographed range from 6” to 12” long and much wider. That’s an oversimplification. Obviously I got a b.a. and not a b.s. (although I’ve been accused of b.s. often!). >
Thank you, Art. That was a fun romp through Wikipedia. Don’t know why I didn’t think of taking the links myself. I was thinking of just the visual distinctions when I asked my question, but I’m often up for more, and this was fun.
Glad it helped. By the way, I’m really enjoying your “dumpster” series! >
Thanks! I’ve been told that my photographs in general are too flat, but I’m going to persist with this series anyway. I’m really glad you are enjoying it.