A rock for Painshill

[roustabout149]

Hi. I have posted this rock before. I haven't decided whether it is unsightly or beautiful? Actually, it has kept me busy for a while, as when I look at it, I just keep lookin at it. Weird? Probably! Anyway, seems to me that you might enjoy having this rock, Roger, to look at for yourself. Wrong as I may be, it's an addiction that I'd like to pass on to you. You probably already have several just like it. I know you have many examples of you name its. Lemme' know. It's a curious thing.
Pam

[Brian]

Looks like a clump of reptilian scales/skin :unsure: where was it found?

[roustabout149]

Brian wrote:

Looks like a clump of reptilian scales/skin :unsure: where was it found?

  This piece was found at the Licking River here in OH.  This is where I find the majority of my fossils.  Painshill, Roger, mentioned what he thought it was in another post...but I just am not good at remembering exactly what he called it, "outta' my league", so to speak!   It resembles reptilian to me also, but I am 99.9% certain that was, "not", his determination.  If he didn't have anything similar, which he probably does, I thought he might like to add this to his collection...if it ain't too ugly!!! :lol:

[Brian]

I know how you feel! Learning flint/stone is a very mentally consuming in itself.  :huh:

[painshill]

Hi Pam
There’s no such thing as an ugly rock as far as I’m concerned… and the more unusual the better.   I certainly don’t have anything like it and would very much welcome a closer inspection (in return for the item I promised you previously).
It took a bit of finding, but your original post and my series of replies were here:

http://arrowheads.com/forums/what-did-i-find/25455-can-anyone-help-with-this-piece?defaultmenu=253

It sure does look like reptilian skin doesn’t it, but I’m still of the view that it’s the negative impression from a fenestrelloid bryozoan (see pictures towards the bottom of that post) plus some bits and pieces of sea-bed detritus.
Bryozoans are commonly known as “moss animals”. They are aquatic invertebrates with an external skeleton. They filter food particles out of the water using retractable tentacles. Mostly they live in salt water and are colonial rather than solitary. So, tiny cellular animals that join together in their thousands or millions and work communally to create something with a form and structure which can be mistaken for an organism in its own rite.
Think of them in the same way that you think of corals, but they are a separate phylum of the animal kingdom.
Here's another (living) example of the type known as "sea mats" since they spread across rocky areas of the ocean floor like an ever-growing badly-woven rug:

Bryozoan (Menbranipora membranacea)
See also my reply to “Several Fossils”, which I will be making shortly.
Roger