Fossil and Artifact Forum

Hey Joelle!

That is actually a good looking rugose coral (or more commonly known as "horn coral") to me. Good find! It looks like it's in great shape!

Hey Daryl, it's definitely fossil, as a complete and utter guess maybe 300 million years old. The rugosans went extinct at the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, but they were pretty abundant in the Paleozoic seas. Plus if you think about it, corals really only survive in warm seas...and Lake Michigan doesn't really fit that bill. It's great when I can actually answer these questions, because when it comes to the teeth Daryl I feel like you've got just about everything covered. I guess it helps that my advisor is primarily an invert paleontologist. Hope that helps!

Yeah, that's the plan, though I'm finishing up my undergrad degree this school year. I've actually started to become really interested in microvertebrates and vertebrate paleoecology (especially Cretaceous stuff), so I think I'd like to focus on that for my Masters and Ph.D., but I guess only time will tell. I brought back a few 5 gallon buckets from the dump piles in Aurora and screened one of them out so far... there are some cool inverts in there! I think I'll stick with collecting the teeth,vertebrae, etc., though.

SMM, quick question... I knew it was a type of horn coral as soon as I saw the picture, but the horn coral I see here in Alabama is super fragile. I can never seem to get a complete specimen home because it always falls apart during the transport. I can basically put one between my fingers and without any real pressure crush it to dust... The area I search in is an Eocene epoch... Are there many different types of horn coral? Also, what would be the best way to clean them and prep them for travel? Thanks, John