Ordovician Sponge

Terri

Sepia elegans
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This ?gastropod is from the Bigby-Cannon Limestone in Smith Co. Tn. I've never found one like this and the closest I've found in my browsings is possibly in the Strombidae family? Not the best pictures but maybe there's enough there to point me in the right direction. It's about 3cm. across and a couple high. Any ideas?
 

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On all your other posts I can find at least some of what I should be looking for and Kevin's added pencil marks bring out the rest but I have no clue where I am supposed to be looking in this one. WHERE is it?
 
It's the blob in the center, top of pic.:heee:. the pic. will enlarge a couple of times, then you should be able to see kindof a semi-circle with little conical shaped thingies and then just above that another row of slightly smaller ones, I can see it kind of continuing in that pattern if the top of the fossil hadn't been broken (probably by the guys that mow up there a couple times a year). I've been looking at these pictures for months and haven't been able to get back there for better pics. Kevin is so good at seeing what isn't there, I thought he might be able to figure it out.:roll:
 
Thanks Kevin, I don't think I would ever have thought to search sponges on this one, Archaeoscyphia looks really close to me. :cool2: very cool, thanks for the link.
 
DWhatley;175264 said:
It seems strange that sponge can leave a fossil

I think the spicules actually hold things together and make a pretty good internal skeleton, a lot of structure to preserve or replace. :cool2:

Terri;175276 said:
Thanks Kevin, I don't think I would ever have thought to search sponges on this one, Archaeoscyphia looks really close to me. :cool2: very cool, thanks for the link.

A picture of that sponge is in almost every book on fossils I have read, nice to see someone actually find one. :heee:
 
Hey Kevin, can the title to this thread be changed? (since it's obviously not a gastropod). I couldn't figure out how to change it.I have more I'd like to post, I should probably do a lot more reading on sponges first though:banghead:...so much to learn!:bonk:
 
Terri;175179 said:
This ?gastropod is from the Bigby-Cannon Limestone in Smith Co. Tn. I've never found one like this and the closest I've found in my browsings is possibly in the Strombidae family? Not the best pictures but maybe there's enough there to point me in the right direction. It's about 3cm. across and a couple high. Any ideas?

So this a photo of a fossilized sponge? Like some others I don't see it! Is there any way you can highlight the sponge part of the rock in the photo? Any idea how old this rock is?
 
Interesting, as fragile as sponges are I would have thought they would decay before they could become fossilized. Are they in a clay or lava rock. Any other clues as to what happened just before they died and became part of the rock?
 

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