Cerithium giganteum Gastropod Fossil

This gastropod fossil was on display at the Musée de Mineralogie (Mineralogy Museum) located at the MINES ParisTech, 60 Boulevard Saint-Michel 75006 Paris France (August 2016).

It is a Cerithium giganteum found at Issy-les-Moulineaux Isle of France Paris. Fossil dates to the Cenozoic Period.

How To Be A Dunkleosteus

Back in January 2014 I wrote about How To Be A Megalodon Shark which was about the popular smartphone game Hungry Shark Evolution. In that posting, I was hoping they would create an arthrodire or mosasaur creature to play in the game. Well they have created a Dunkleosteus. It is one fearsome creature with some artistic gaming license added in. The creature has been given a double mouth with the inner able to project out like the creatures in the Aliens movie. It is somewhat creepy.

This game is mixing modern fish and sharks with fossil sharks Megalodon (Cenozoic Era) and the Dunkleosteus (Paleozoic Era - Devonian Period). The game designers did pick two of the more popular sea creatures that are shown in fossil sections of museums.

In the game the Dunkleosteus is the most powerful creature revealed so far but in reality the Megalodon was much bigger though not armored like the Dunkleosteus.  The game info screen shown below is amusing by listing "A newly discovered prehistoric colossus. Some say this beast was responsible for the extinction of the Megalodon..." which means it can time travel. The Dunkleosteus was extinct by over 300 million years by the time the Megalodon made is appearance on the Earth.

Learn more at this wiki:
http://hungry-shark.wikia.com/wiki/Big_Daddy_%28Dunkleosteus%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkleosteus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon

Megalodon Fossil Replica

I borrowed this replica fossil of a C. megalodon shark. The fossil was to be used to show some grade school classes different types of fossils. The topic of dinosaurs and sharks comes up when giving fossil talks so I thought having this to show would give students some idea as to how large these sharks could get. This creature swam around in the Paleogene Period of the Cenozoic Era.
Thanks to Mark for loaning it to me.

Rhyncholampas Sea Urchin Fossil

This sea urchin fossil (enchinoid) is called Rhyncholampas gouldii. It is found in the Tamiami Formation of Suwannee County, Florida. The creature existed 2.5-5 million years ago (Pliocene Epoch/Neogene Period/Cenozoic Age).  The fossil was in a white, chalky matrix.

Classification:

• Phylum: Echinodermata
• Class: Echinoidea
• Order: Cassiduloida
• Family: Cassidulidae
• Genus: Rhyncholampus
• Species: gouldii

Thanks to Mary Ann for the fossils and my cousin Kenny for cleaning them up using sand/air abrasive cleaning. Unfortunately, I did not take any before pictures but they looked like Mexican wedding cookies (a little mound covered powdered sugar).