|
|
Post by pleecan (Peter Lee) on Mar 16, 2011 20:01:11 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Joe Botting on Mar 17, 2011 5:46:12 GMT -5
Nice pickled gherkin! A bit on the crunchy side for my preference, mind... ;D
Any sign of sclerites in this? These cucumbers really need details of the oral ring, the spicules, or detailed soft tissue to get very far. The Mazon things always look impressive (it's amazing it's been fossilised at all, after all), but are frequently lacking on the fine details.
|
|
|
|
Post by pleecan (Peter Lee) on Mar 17, 2011 10:40:59 GMT -5
I will take some close up shots ....
|
|
|
|
Post by pleecan (Peter Lee) on Mar 19, 2011 15:50:35 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Joe Botting on Mar 19, 2011 20:12:49 GMT -5
Thanks for those, Peter. It actually looks lik a good one - there's clearly good detail in the ring (if you can get the kaolinite off!). I'm not certain you've got sclerites rather than just cracking of the surface film of the body, but in places it does look like "wheel ossicles" - little circles with cross-bars.
|
|
|
|
Post by pleecan (Peter Lee) on Mar 19, 2011 20:26:55 GMT -5
Hi Joe: You are welcome. Thanks for the analysis... I will try to see if wheel ossicles are present.... side note:photos were taken with very long Russian bellows and a Russian Zeiss copycat of Tessar lens the M42 Pentacon 50mm F1.8 that is mounted in reverse, Foveon Technology based camera DSLR Sigma SD10.
|
|
|
|
Post by pleecan (Peter Lee) on Mar 20, 2011 8:54:00 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Joe Botting on Mar 26, 2011 7:57:03 GMT -5
These are interesting - glad it stood up to the treatment! I'm still not sure whether we're seeing sclerites or cracks in the minerals, though. What you would have to do is check whether the same structures are seen in your other Mazon specimens - worms etc. If they are, then sadly it's an inorganic texture. But if not, then... well, it would be looking pretty good. Must also look up whether sclerites are known in the Mazon cucumbers, as I'm not sure, offhand!
|
|
|
|
Post by pleecan (Peter Lee) on Mar 26, 2011 12:14:21 GMT -5
Thanks for the observation Joe...
These structure are unique to this particular fossil ...only a small patch on the whole fossil contains these hook like stuctures... believe organic in nature....
|
|
|
|
Post by Joe Botting on Apr 2, 2011 7:44:02 GMT -5
In that case, the question is why it's only on one small patch of the fossil, rather than all over. The structures do seem to be restricted to the brown mineral, which also has the calcite veins, and has therefore contracted at some point, presumably on dewatering or something similar. In which case... sadly it's not likely to be sclerites after all.  |
|
|
|
Post by pleecan (Peter Lee) on Apr 2, 2011 21:26:29 GMT -5
It is one particular patch clearly exposed because as the fossil cleaves asymmetrically only the very exterior portion of the creature is exposed as thin strip of the surface is actually exposed showing the hair like projections... a Mazon CreeK expert has seen this fossil also and commented that he was able to see `sigmoidal hooks`what ever that means...
The calcite veins,,, are they the black squiggles.... the white squiggles I presume is Kaolin. .. I still have lots of fun looking at this fossil.... I am still not that clear what sclerites are.... I will need to google some more... I am assuming sclerites are hard tissue as oppose to soft tissue preservation... neat.
PL
|
|
|
|
Post by pleecan (Peter Lee) on Apr 4, 2011 4:56:59 GMT -5
|
|
