Protoconch

[DWhatley]

Hajar,
You get the coolest stuff, I always look forward to what you come up with even though I know nothing about the topic. By chance are you a museum curator?

 

[Hajar]

Thank you for that! No, this is just a hobby sparked by picking up that Paleogene coleoid earlier in the year. I’ve been finding these other specimens on ebay (amazing what shows up there).

 

[Hajar]

I just cleaned up the Sellanarcestes and took some more photos. Much more clearly seen now. The third photo is a stack of several images focussed at different depths (using CombineZP).

 

[Architeuthoceras]

You prep'd that well Hajar! The photos are great.

 

[Damien]

I had just a question ( photographic question ^^) , what kind of camera and lens can did you use to provide such pictures ?

 

[Hajar]

Thanks Kevin! My daughter loaned me a sewing needle, which now just passes through that first whorl perforation.

Greetings Damien. Nothing special (I’m no expert). It’s a Sony alpha350 (so a decent high resolution), with the standard 18-70mm lens, mounted on a tripod and brought up close to the eyepiece of a microscope (Euromex). I set focus to infinity, do the focussing with the microscope and use a remote shutter release to take the photo. Combine ZP (http://www.hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZP/News.htm) is great for stacking a set of images focussed at different depths. I use it a lot for taking pictures of inclusions in amber (e.g. fotopic.net ; fotopic.net ).

 

[OB]

Hajar, you are an asset

 

[DWhatley]

... who always has cool stuff for the neophite to enjoy!

Now, to just get him interested in the living relatives ...

 

[Hajar]

Funny you should say that! Just yesterday I went into a shop (with my two young accomplices) to look at the gear for setting up a marine aquarium. After Christmas I think. We've seen some interesting cuttlefish (decorated with tubercles) in our local sea, but no octopus yet.

 

[DWhatley]

Ah, so you are not in the US I had a feeling you were getting hooked when you found the coconut octo.

 

[Hajar]

I just had a look up close at the little basal Triassic ammonoid shown in #11 here and found that it shows a clear protoconch.

 

[POD-L]

Nice, unfortunately I don't have a microscope as I have a baculites from Hornby Island with its teeny tiny little protoconch!

 

[Hajar]

Worth getting hold of a microscope then!