Fossil? Poop? What is it?

Erg, those are amazing. Somebody found a treasure. Donutized maggotrons(just kidding)

Looks like some type of an epibiont or bryozoan encrusted on a crinoid.
Did bryozoan come to your mind Mrs. Pat ?

Does Ashley also find crinoids at this location ?


"An epibiont (from the Ancient Greek meaning "living on top of") is an organism that lives on the surface of another living organism. An epibiont is, by definition, harmless to its host. In this sense, the interaction between the two organisms can be considered neutralistic or commensalistic."

Of course I thought of bryozoans!!
Crust resembles rosebuds.

jamesp
Thanks guys (and gals)! Yes Jim there is a lot of Crinoids around here. How did you get so smart! Reading your post I always have to google search words and names and learn something new almost every time!

Well done Jean, never knew such existed. Beekite formations.
Who would have ever know that chalcedony formations could harden into such unique shapes.
However chalcedony does form into botryoidal shapes that form in concentric spherical layers.

"This looks more like a specimen of a cryptocrystalline quartz mineral called Beekite.
We commonly find it here in Nebraska, especially on shells of productoid and atrypoid
brachiopods and on some crinoid cups. Sometimes we find loose examples as your
specimen. Loope and Watkins in the paper listed below described this phenomenon
and related it to Pennsylvanian fossils from Utah and Nebraska. As a quick test, if you
rub it across a piece of glass, it will scratch the glass if it is beekite. A drop of vinegar
would produce a fizzy if it is carbonate, but be sure any residual carbonate is gone."

Tumbled botryoidal chalcedony from coral showing concentric deposition. Setting by RTH member Arlen.:

Looking at images of beekite your sample is by far the most eye catching ashley. What a nice find.

That is a wicked cool find! I thought it was fake- like some kind of really old plastic. Very awesome! What do you plan to do with it?