Author: Alan Goldstein

The Coral Ridge Fauna

By Alan Goldstein

(This was originally published in the EXPO XIV Edition of the MAPS Digest in 1992. This article has been updated.)

Introduction

   The Coral Ridge member of the New Providence Formation (Osagean, Middle Mississippian) provides a fascinating array of mollusks, echinoderms and other creatures.  Yet, because of the paucity of collecting localities coupled with the low abundance, the fauna contains many poorly described species. This article will acquaint readers with the depositional environment, faunal abundance and collecting tips for the fossils which may be preserved in exquisite detail.

   The Coral Ridge member and fauna were first described by Conkin (1957) from the Coral Ridge quarry of the General Shale and Brick Company, Jefferson Co., Kentucky. While some fossils are found in road cuts and small outcroppings, there are really only four documented localities where this fauna occurs. One is in Clark County, Indiana. The type locality has the most diverse fauna. More than 80 percent of the species are mollusks. Indeed, over 70 percent of the fossils (excluding traces) belong to a single species!

Stratigraphy and Paleogeography

   According to Conkin (1957, 1972), the New Providence Formation consists of three members, in ascending order they are: the Coral Ridge member, the Button Mold Knob member, and the Kenwood Siltstone member. The formation is part of the Borden Group (Figure 1.). Some geologists list the Borden at formational level and assign the New Providence a ranking of member. The Coral Ridge and Button Mold Knob members are not differentiated because the lithology is similar (Figure 2.). The Coral Ridge is considered to be earliest Middle Mississippian age.

   During the early Middle Mississippian, sedimentation in the east-central United States was dominated by deltaic deposition. Called the Borden delta, the sedimentary rock show evidence of conditions on the basin floor, the prodelta or foot of the delta, the delta slope, and the delta platform or top. Each portion of the delta had a different environment which supported various faunas.

   The Coral Ridge fauna is associated with the basin beyond the delta’s farthest edge in the deepest water. During the earliest Mississippian, the environment was anaerobic, forming black carbon-rich shale. Conditions gradually changed to an oxygen-poor sea floor, as indicated by bioturbated greenish clay shale. This allowed life to exist in patchy communities where conditions were best-suited under a less-t犀利士 han-ideal situation.

   Pyritic steinkerns (internal casts) are the most common form of fossil preservation. Trace fossils of animals that burrowed in the mud may be preserved as pyrite in three-dimensions. The occasional fossil with the external shell ornamentation preserved shows incredible detail. The oxygen-poor conditions were likely anoxic beneath the top few centimeters of sediment (Kammer, 1985) allowing microenvironments for the sulfate-reducing bacteria. They would react with detrital iron to in-fall the empty aragonite exo-skeletons with pyrite. In altered to marcasite, siderite, goethite (“limonite”) and quartz. Fossils may be found partially geodized. In addition, conularids are preserved as phosphatic mineralization.

Paleoecology

   The Coral Ridge fauna does not have the diversity of other Osagean faunas. The communities were likely of low abundance or only an extremely low number of exoskeletons were preserved. The fossils are dominated by small individuals. Stunting is thought to be the primary mechanism. This cannot be proven in most mollusks, but can be seen in the goniatites. With the exception of the corals (primarily a single species, Amplexus fragilis) the bulk of the fossils are smaller than one cubic centimeter. Very rarely, large gastropods, goniatites and nautiloids are found, but these make up less than one percent of the population. Examples include: Glabrocingulum – 5 cm, Loxonema – 7 cm, Sinuitina – 5 cm, Michelinoceras – 30 cm, and an unidentified coiled nautiloid – 8 cm.

    Epifaunal deposit feeders, animals that can move around on the sea floor, dominate. Most are archaeogastropods (Kammer, 1985) – see Table 1. They were likely ingesters of detrital organic material. The actual depth of the basin is unknown. Kammer (1985) indicates that it was likely below the photic zone, however the abundance of tabulate corals indicate that light was present, though at very low levels. (Most tabulates were attached to crinoid columns, elevating them above the muddy sediment.)

   The most abundant archaeogastropod is Glabrocingulum ellenae (Conkin), making up 72 percent of the fossils found and 92 percent of the epifaunal deposit feeders! It ranges in size from one millimeter to about three centimeters across. About one in 100 shows external ornamentation, many are steinkerns.

   Less common is Trepispira, similar in form to Glabrocingulum which requires close examination to distinguish as a steinkern. The bellerophont gastropod Bucanella is much rarer, as is platycerid Orthynochia (as listed by Conkin, 1957). This snail is coprophagous, situating itself over the anal opening of crinoids.

   The monoplacophoran Sinuitina annaea Conkin is uncommon when compared to Glabrocingulum populations, but this mollusk is typically scarce.

   Trilobites are uncommon epifaunal deposit feeders. The Coral Ridge fauna is represented by two species. Phillibole conkini Hessler is the more common form, but it is still very rare. Brachymetopus spinosus (Herrick) is less common. Occasion phosphatic nodules are found composed of trilobite fragments – some of them are from large individuals.

   Epifaunal suspension feeders including brachiopods, corals and echinoderms, make up about half of the species, but comprise less than 13 percent of the fossils found (table 1). Apparently circulation permitted enough food into the environment to allow a variety of epifaunal suspension feeders, but they did not thrive.

   Favosites corals are found surrounding crinoid columns. The soft, muddy seafloor wouldnot allow larva to get established. In addition, the elevated colony could feed a few centimeters higher above the basin floor. Colony distribution on the crinoid columns is asymmetrical, indicating a growth preference, likely facing nutrient-bearing currents.

   The tiny Crurithryis? sp. is the most common brachiopod. At one to five millimeters in width, this diminutive suspension feeder was the most successful animal living on the seafloor. It is more common than the infaunal suspension feeders which, while buried in mud, fed essentially from the same zone.

   Echinoderms are highly diverse, but identifiable plates and calices are very rare. Blastoids with fused plates may be found as a complete head or theca. Granatocrinus kentuckyensis (Conkin) is the most common blastoid. Crinoid plates are usually bound by soft tissue. Upon death they disarticulate quickly. The depth of the Coral Ridge fauna precluded rapid storm burial, as a result, crinoidal material is typically column sections, single plates and rarely arm sections or basal cups. Crinoid holdfasts are the type with cirri spreading away in all directions at regular or irregular intervals along the length preserved. The longest crinoid column found by the writer is about 20 cm.

   A substantially smaller number of fossil were infaunal deposit feeders, consisting of at least three genera of bivalves and a rostroconch, Psueomucelens cancellata (Hyde) (table 1). The variety of size and shape of the non-siphonate clams (Ctenodonta sp., Nuculopsis sp. and Phestia sp.) suggest a division of food resources in the sediment (Kammer, 1985). Soft-body infaunal deposit-feeders were abundant, as indicated by bioturbation of the shale and numerous pyritized trace fossils, including Scalarituba missouriensis Weller.

  Unlike other Borden delta communities, the Coral Ridge fauna is relatively rich carnivorous cephalopod. Four goniatites and several nautiloids have been report (Work and Mason, 2004). The small goniatites Polaricyclus conkini Work & Mason and Polaricyclus ballardensis Gordon make up five percent of the fossil collected for this report. Other Cantabricanites? greenei (Miller)and Winchelloceras knappi Work & Mason are considerably less common. A larger goniatite is occasionally found at the Clark Co. locality. The distance above the seafloor that these cephalopods lived is not known.

  Although the nature of Paraconularia sp. is not well understood, it is found in phosphatic exoskeletons with the Coral Ridge fauna. It is typically associated with the siderite nodules and in the double cone-in-cone nodules. These nodules may consist of numerous fragments or contain a single specimen preserved three-dimensionally. Opercula preservation is very rare.

Table 1

Species                                        Number**            %      Fossil      Feeding                  Notes

* = Photograph of this fossil at end of the article.

** Number in original article. Some species are now known with additional specimens (i.e., Barycrinus body plates).

Glabrocingulum ellenae (Conkin)    1024           72.2    MG                  ED      Trepispira not listed in original publication. It is probably 2- 4% of the number.

Rugose Corals undifferentiated       141              9.4      CR                  ES       Amplexus fragilis dominates, with Cyathaxonia and Baryphyllum in smaller numbers

Polaricyclus* (both species)            79                    5.3      MC                  C       This study done before the species were named.

Sinuitina annaea Conkin                42                    2.8      MM                  ED     

Loxonema sp.                                36                    2.4      MG                  ED      Conkin (1957) lists L. delphincola

Crurithryis? sp.                              22                    1.4      BA                   ES      

Michelinoceras sp.*                           16                    1.1       MC               C

Cantabricanites? greenei (Miller)*   12                    0.8      MC                  C        

Nuculopsis sp.                                12                    0.8      MB                  ID

Phestia sp.                                      10                   0.7       MB                  ID

Cyrtina-like brachiopod*                  10                    0.7      BA                   ES

Psueomucelens cancellata (Hyde)      8                   0.5      MR                  ID

Winchelloceras knappi Work & Mason*    8             0.5      MC                  C

Ctenodonta sp.                                  7                  0.5      MB                  ID

Granatocrinus kentuckyensis (Conkin)*    6              0.4       EB                   ES       Highly ornate

Rhynchopora beecheri (Greger)*          6            0.4       BA                   ES

Phillibole conkini Hessler               4                 0.3       AT                   ED

Punctospirifer? subelliptica (McChesney)  4            0.3       BA                   ES

Orbiculoidea sp.*                                  4                   0.3       BI                    ES

Paraconularia sp.                             4                      0.3       CC                  ES

Bucanella sp.                                     3                   0.2       MG                  ED

Sponge spicules, indeterminant      3                     0.2       P                     ES

Synbathocrinus dentatus*                2                      0.1       EC                  ES       Conkin (1957)

Cyathocrinites australis Kammer*   2                      0.1       EC                  ES       Isolated plates

Magnumbonella? sp.                      2                     0.1       BA                   ES

Catillocrinus tennessensis                2            0.1                     EC                  ES

Hadroblastus kentuckyensis?*                                            EB                   ES       Conkin (1957) lists Codaster jessieae; Xenoblastus sp. was in Conkin & Conkin (1976)

The following specimens were represented by a single specimen during the original study, although additional specimens have been found since.

Orthonychia sp.                                                                  MG                  CO

Favosites sp. (F. divergens?)                                               CT                   ES       Conkin (1957)

Barycrinus – B. sculptis?                                                     EC                  ES       Additional collecting revealed this to be more common than Synbathocrinus or Cyathocrinites.

Taxocrinus sp.                                                                     EC                  ES

Platycrinites hemisphericus                                              EC                  ES

Euryocrinus veryi (Rowley)*                                 EC                  ES       Found after initial study

Dichocrinus*                                                EC                  ES       Found after initial study

Dielasma? sp.                                                                    BA                   ES       Poorly preserved specimen, Conkin (1957) lists Girtyella.

Eumetria sp.                                                                    BA                   ES

Brachymetopus spinosus (Herrick)                                  AT                   ED

Crinoid columns and trace fossils are not included in this survey.

   For collectors, there is one fossil considered abundant among this fauna – Glabrocingulum ellenae (Conkin). Trace fossils have been excluded because a single Scalarituba missouriensis Weller make break into many fragments. As a group, corals are relatively common. Amplexis fragilis (White & St. John) is often geodized and may be enlarged to as much as 15 cm in length. Multiple visits to the collecting sites does not change the percentage of the most common eight species, but the rarest (percentages <0.5 percent) have the changes from trip to trip. It is these fossils that add “spice” to the collecting trips.

The Collecting the Fauna

   There are only four published collecting localities (Conkin, 1957; Kammer, 1985). This writer has collected from two – the quarry of the General Shale and Brick Company and the old Louisville Cement Company quarry near Sellersburg, Indiana. Both are private property and not accessible by non-scientists. The Indiana locality has more abundant Winchelloceras goniatites.

   The sparse and patchy nature of this fauna means collectors must be very thorough. Without a systematic sweep of the outcrop, it is quite easy to miss the only Granatocrinus or Phillibole that has weathered out. It is also easy to miss a cluster of mollusks. Glabrocingulum is usually found in clumps of four or more within a 30 square centimeter area.

   The soft greenish shale weathers rapidly. Unlike some formations where a single collector can stripe an outcrop for decades with a single visit, the nature of the lithology is self-sustaining. A couple of months (or several good downpours) between collecting trips is sufficient to re-concentrate the fossils. The rarest fossils are uniformly (and widely) distributed.

   This article is not designed to aid the collector to gain access to known collecting sites, only provide information about an unusual Middle Mississippian fauna. Pyrite-replaced fossils are found in similar-aged formations throughout Kentucky. They are never abundant, particularly when compared to the faunas of the Glen Dean and other Upper Mississippian formations.

References

Ausich, W. I., Kammer, T. W., and Lane, N. G., 1979, Fossil communities of the Borden (Mississippian) delta in Indiana and northern Kentucky. Journal of Paleontology, v. 53, p. 1182 – 1196.

Conkin, James E., 1957, Stratigraphy of the New Providence Formation (Mississippian) in Jefferson and Bullitt Counties, Kentucky, and Fauna of the Coral Ridge Member. Bulletins of American Paleontology, no. 168, p. 109 – 157.

Conkin, J. E. and Conkin, B. M., 1972, Guide to the Rocks and Fossils of Jefferson County, Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Adjacent Areas. University of Louisville Printing Service, 331 pp.

Conkin, J. E. and Conkin, B. M., 1976, Guide to the Rocks and Fossils of Jefferson County, Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Adjacent Areas, second edition. University of Louisville Printing Service, 239 pp.

Kammer, T. W., 1982, Fossil communities of the prodeltaic New Providence Shale Member of the Borden Formation (Mississippian), north-central Kentucky and southern Indiana. PhD Dissertation. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 301 pp.

Kammer, T. W., 1982, Basinal and prodeltaic communities of the Early Carboniferous Borden Formation in northern Kentucky and southern Indiana (U.S.A.). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 49, p. 79 – 121.

Weller, S., 1914, The Mississippian Brachiopoda of the Mississippi Valley Basin, Illinois State Geological Survey, Mon. 1, 508 p. (2 volumes).

Work, D. M., and Mason, C. E., 2004, Mississippian (Late Osagean) ammonoids from the New Providence Shale Member of the Borden Formation, north-central Kentucky. Journal of Paleontology, v. 78, p. 1128 – 1137.

Photo Album of Fauna

Brachiopods

Bryozoans

Cephalopods

Echinoderms – Blastoids (All pyrite-replaced)

Echinoderms – Crinoids (All pyrite-replaced)

One of the most collectible non-gem minerals on Earth. It’s calcium fluoride, the primary source of fluorine, a highly reactive element and an important industrial chemical. Fluoridated toothpaste and water get their fluorine from this mineral.

Fluorite is found throughout the world. Major deposits are in the U.S. (particularly Illinois & Kentucky), Mexico, South Africa, England, Spain, and France. But collectible minerals come from even minor, non-economic deposits.

Crystals have perfect cleavage (they break really easily!) and are soft – 4 on Moh’s hardness scale. That combination makes the cut stones a bad choice for jewelry. One tiny bump and it can be scratched or crack. Drop it and it’s history!

Fluorite occurs in virtually every color and hue but in its purest form is completely transparent. Purple, blue, yellow and green are the most sought crystals. The cube is the most common form, but other shapes include octahedron, tetrahexahedron, dodecahedron, etc. – and combinations thereof!

I have written extensively about the fluorite deposits of southern Illinois and western Kentucky (see my bibliography). The “fluorspar district” has a dedicated page, so the specimens shown here are from other locations.

Link to Photos from Non-U.S. Locations

Colorado

Nancy Hanks claim, Unaweep Canyon in Mesa County, is a mine known for green fluorite.

Wagon Wheel Gap Mine, Saguache County, is well known for fluorite,

Indiana

Mathes Quarry, Harrison Co. (currently owned by Vulcan Materials which has ceased operations)

Corydon Quarry, Harrison Co. – is best known for pink dolomite and calcite, but also has a fair amount of fluorite scattered in pockets. Fluorite is usually the first mineral to form in pockets and is often partially or completely covered by later dolomite.

Kentucky

Irvington Quarry, Breckenridge Co. – perhaps the best fluorite outside of the western Kentucky fluorspar district and the central Kentucky Mineral District. Purple and yellow cubes in a specific layer that is rarely mined these days.

Muldraugh dome in Meade County, at Fort Knox – Geodes bearing isolated, usually etched, fluorite cubes occur in geodes found near the center of the geological a structure.

Hayden Mine (East Faircloth vein), Mundy’s Landing, Woodford Co. near the Kentucky River. These photos were from a summer 1989 collecting trip. Photos inside the mine will eventually be posted.

A temporary quarry was established on the Bluegrass Parkway at KY33 during road work. It was buried and covered in grass and is no longer visible – much less collectable.

Idaho

Keystone Mountains, Idaho – a location described to me by economic geologist Allen Heyl that I forwarded to Idaho collector Lanny Ream.

New Mexico

There are many fluorite occurrences in New Mexico. Some are on claims others on private ranches where collecting is no allowed.

Fluorite, almost botryoidal. Label says “Redrock, New Mexico.” Based on a photo of the specimen, Mineral expert Ray Demark thinks it is from the Great Eagle mine, Telegraph district, Grant Co., New Mexico – which isn’t far from Red Rock. Collected in 1993. Obtained in trade from Kevin Ponzio (Wisconsin) at the 2009 Kyana Geological Society show.

Ohio

The Silurian limestone quarries in Ohio are famous for fluorite. It is usually yellow or brown due to organic inclusions like petroleum. As such, they fluoresce brightly.

Wyoming

Fluorite

Fluorite – Calcium Fluoride – became an important mineral in the 1880s when it was found to be an ideal flux to purify molten iron. Since then, it has found thousands of other industrial uses. During World War II, miners and anyone associated with the fluorspar mining industry were not allowed to join the fight in Europe or the Pacific. They had to produce ore for the war effort. Anyone who slipped away to join the army were sent home to work the mines!

Fluorite occurs in many colors. In the district, shades of purple and yellow were most common in the bedding replacement deposits, while white and brown were common in the veins. Blue is well-documented and highly sought by collectors. Green was found in the Rose mine in Hick’s dome. I found pink crystals at Conn’s mine in Pope Co. In general, most fluorite doesn’t fluoresce in the fluorspar district, except from oil inclusions. Fluorite around Hick’s dome has enough rare earth elements so it glows bright blue!

Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum Specimens

Backlit fluorite octahedra at the Clement Mineral Museum

Fluorite with a fluorescent phantom of petroleum inclusions. Clement Mineral Museum specimen.

Fluorite crystal shown above under normal light, blue over yellow.

Complicated purple fluorite crystal cluster. No mine information available.

Text: This fluorite specimen is a gem in the field of gems was probably found before 1919 (before I [Ben Clement] came in Ky. Mr. [Edwin] Reed[er] was great [mine] engineer and a man with a love of minerals – my first desire to collect and my inspiration came from Eng. Redd[er]. He had a fine family always good to me for which I was grateful. See this specimen in sunlight.

Alan’s comments: This specimen looks like the Benzon mine (Cave in Rock) fluorite I saw at the Smithsonian in 1988. (Though smaller.) Benzon mine was at the current location of the Hastie’s mines, and may have included the Austin Lead, Oxford Cut, Cleveland, and Green-Defender mines.

I was given historical photos of the fluorspar district by Edwin Reeder’s great niece in the late 1980s. She took a ‘Geology of Kentucky’ class I taught. Edwin Reeder was killed in an automobile accident in Cave in Rock in 1931. He was never married and had no children.

Edwin Reeder photo of the Rosiclare mill complex in 1919.

Squire Riley fluorite carvings in the Clement Mineral Museum collection.

This gallery includes native species and my favorite garden flowers. Look for information with each photo. I live in plant zone 6. I’m using the most common name although sometimes it might be the Latin name.

Dolomite is another common mineral in sedimentary rock. It’s a carbonate mineral CaMg(CO₃)₂. Crystals are usually rhombic though growth can create a saddle-shape crystal. Color is commonly pearly white, but it can be pink, yellow, orange, brown or red. Those with the reddish tinge have iron in the atomic structure and are called ferroan dolomite.

Corydon Crushed Stone Quarry in Harrison Co., Indiana, is a top 3 or 4 American locality for its pink color. Intensity is variable and the color disappears if the specimen is left outside for a period of months or years.

Harrodsburg, Monroe Co., Indiana, is a famous collecting locality for geodes. One of my favorites is the dolomite with a little iron giving it a vivid color.

Sellersburg Quarry, Clark Co., Indiana, has rare vugs of dolomite, calcite and pyrite in the Jeffersonville Limestone.

Lebanon Quarry, Marion Co., Kentucky, has pale dolomite crystals in a dolostone breccia and in rare calcareous nodules in the New Albany Shale.

This quarry is located in Jeffersonville, Indiana, is the closest quarry to downtown Louisville. It is closed to collectors (don’t even ask) since late 2009.

The bottom of the quarry is Laurel Dolostone (Middle Silurian) and in ascending order: Waldron Shale, Louisville Limestone, Jeffersonville Limestone (Middle Devonian), Speed Limestone, North Vernon (= Sellersburg) Limestone, Beechwood Limestone, and basal New Albany Shale.

Unless noted, these photos were taken during a geology club visit on July 2004.

Annotated with site information, including geological / paleontological / mineralogical. Many quarries listed are closed or no longer allow collectors. This album serves to document geological locations – not to provide locations for you to visit. Assume all active mines to be closed to casual collecting.

Atkin’s Quarry in Jeffersonville, Indiana, was visited between 1994 and 2009. Access was curtailed with new management and policies in late 2009. Click on photo to see more.

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Hastie’s Quarries, Hardin Co., Illinois

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Speed Quarry, Clark Co., Indiana (Operated by Louisville Cement, then Essroc, then Italicementi, and now Heidelburg Cement, it will be closing soon if not already.)

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Annabel Lee Mine – A fluorite mine in Hardin Co., Illinois that I visited with Chris Anderson in May, 1987. We spent an 8-hour shift documenting the mine operations and geology.

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Coral Ridge / General Shale Brick Company, Jefferson Co., Kentucky – The type locality for the Coral Ridge pyrite-replaced fauna described by James Conkin in his master’s thesis published by the Paleontological research Institute in 1957. Many fossils were found over the years. The site became inaccessible in mid-2010 as our contact and many employees were laid off due to the 2008-9 recession and the lack of home building.

Additional locations – when I have time!

Boyle Co., Kentucky geode hunting – An area with geodes from smaller than an inch to bigger than 2-feet across. Mostly quartz with minor calcite, hematite, etc.

Cedar Creek Quarry, Bardstown, Kentucky – a limestone quarry (now closed) famous for trilobites in the Laurel dolostone. It also had brachiopods, crinoids, cephalopods, pyrite, calcite and sphalerite.

Carroll Co., Kentucky road cuts – in the Kope Formation, Upper Ordovician, they contain brachiopods, bryozoans, graptolites, mollusks, trilobites, and trace fossils.

Corydon Quarry, Harrison Co., Indiana – famous for superb pink dolomite with calcite of various shades of tan to white, often with inclusions of iron, rarely with millerite or MnO2. Quarry is active and closed to collecting.

Elizabethtown Quarry, Kentucky – a long-closed and now privately owned quarry that we collected 900 crinoids between 1990 – 1994. The scientific papers naming 9 new species were a result. The quarry had diverse Muldraugh, Harrodsburg & Salem Formation faunas.

Hardin Co., Kentucky road cuts – on Hwy 313, from the New Providence Shale to the St. Louis Limestone, Middle Mississippian age. Various fossils and geodes of calcite or gypsum.

Illinois side of the IL-KY fluorspar district (excluding Hastie’s & Annabel Lee mines)

Irvington Quarry, Breckinridge Co., Kentucky – famous for fluorite, calcite with minor quartz and other minerals. Locality owned by Liter’s, Inc. Closed to collectors, though the last time I visited, collecting was hardly worth the effort.

Kentucky side of the IL-KY fluorspar district – numerous old mines primarily dot Crittenden and Livingston Counties. No active mines since the 1960s.

Lebanon Quarry, Marion Co., Kentucky – Multiple quarries in various stages from long to recently abandoned to recently opened. Calcite and Ordovician fossils primarily. Oldest quarry has some Devonian fossils, largely weathered too much to be interesting.

Salem Quarry, Washington Co., Indiana – this closed quarry was famous for geodes with celestine and calcite. Fossils were known but not widely collected in the Mississippian formations.

Explore the diversity of nature through Alan’s lens*. Infinite diversity in infinite settings!

* And some of my daughter, Emily…

Categories include:

Flowering plants

Birds

Insects, arachnids and other arthropods

Reptiles & amphibians

Mammals

Fish

Ecological settings

Weather and Clouds

These are photographs representing many of the species I have collected over the years. I have 629 species, 373 genera of brachiopods in my collection.