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The wait was worth it!
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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It's been a long time since I posted. Been a long time since I collected, actually. Been on travels and involved in other interests. Anyways, I had some time last month & went out to my hunting grounds. There'd been a lot of erosion since I was there last, so I was hopeful. And I was rewarded!
> huge cowrie!
> Tiger Shark vertebra!!
> 6 Gray Reef Shark Teeth (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos)
> partial Porcupine Fish jaw section (reminiscent of Lee Creek)
> small section... |
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New Year, nice finds, including Wrasse pharyngeal
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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Two trips over the holidays. Some nifty stuff: a Wrasse pharyngel, an urchin, several porcupinefish jaw sections, a coupla nice murexes & big cowries, another blacktip shark tooth, and some nice crab claws.... |
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Pearl Harbor artifacts
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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I recently stumbled across an area where the military disposed of debris from the 1940s, including the debris from the Pearl Harbor attack. Most of it is rusted & unrecognizable, but every once in a while, something of interest crops up. At present, I am slowly exposing what I think is a parachute, 1940s-vintage!
Shown here are some fragments of Navy servicewear (note the 1941 date!), some 50-cal bullets from a 40s-50s machine gun range, two brass buckles, and a thingamabob that I haven'... |
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Honolulu fossils
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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It would appear that someone (or someones) have discovered my initial fossil spot. My last two trips have been empty, curiously so; not even the common finds. I probably have myself to blame by posting photos of the spot here at BRF. Ah well.
The upside however, is that I've spent time traveling this beautiful island and doing other things, including spotting out new locations. I was out dirt-biking and happened upon a stretch of coastline along the harbor and low-and-behold, fossil shell... |
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Recent finds, new locality
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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Found a new locale. I found dozens of cowries & cones, but included photographs here of the more unusual stuff:
> a huge cowrie!;
> two turtle femus (probably recent);
> several intact, complete crab claws;
> one lower Blacktip Reef Shark tooth;
> several rare Cypraea granulata cowries
> Porcupinefish jaw
The locale has a much larger exposure, with abundant material in matrix. The turtle femus I found in association with a few opihi limpets, and I suspect they ar... |
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Hawaii Fossil Hunting
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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Everyone knows the origin of Hawaii is volcanic and most likely assumes that there are no fossils to be found there. I was the same until one of Black River Fossils' members, Hemipristis, moved there for work and did some exploring on the island of Oahu. Oahu is the most populated Hawaiian island and is the home of Honolulu and Waikiki, and thanks to hemipristis, we now know there are fossils to be found there as well. |
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The Exposure, part II (sorry, computer glitch)
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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The first photo here belongs to the far left of the series. The other post has the middle two in the sequence. The second photo here belongs to the far right of the series.... |
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The Exposure
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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A few folks had asked what the exposure looks like, so I clicked off a few photos. The first four are taken in sequence, showing the length of the exposure. The second to last shows a nearby volcano. The last photo is a closeup of the outcrop.... |
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Recent storms were productive
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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We had a sequence of low fronts come through in the past 10 days which created 50-foot. That's right FIFTY-FOOT waves on the North Shore! The big ones (40-50' faces) were about 1/4 mile offshore, and we had 12-20 foot breakers on the beaches! It was wild! The Eddie surf tournament was held at Waiamea Bay and Pipeline. I didn't get there because it was a madhouse, but I did get to a nearby beach to shoot a bunch of pics and see what washed up. I've never seen waves so big! Those surfers ar... |
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Recent finds, August 1
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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I hadn't hit my spot recently, so I went this weekend. It was worth the trip: 5 more shark teeth (all Carcarhinus sp.), a beautiful little urchin, 2 pufferfish jaws (as if I don't have enough from Lee Creek....), and a few very pretty gastropods.
OH yeah, the two sea turtles were back--only 25 ft offshore! I also saw a moray. I've included those as the bottom photos.... |
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Banner Day! Sea Urchin, shark, seal?
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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With the onset of winter, we've had a significant amount of rain recently, coupled with cooling temps. This weekend, we dropped down into the low 70s! (sorry, I couldn't resist).
Anyways, after the 22 inches of rain we had 2 weeks ago, I figured the pickin's might be good, and I was right!
There were the usual strombids, cowries, Neritas & such in abundance. I also managed another honker Cowrie (3.5"), 3 Turbos (rare because of their fragility) and a couple of gastropods I hadn... |
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Parrotfish jaw & a huge Cowrie!
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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We had some serious rain the past few days, so I thought I"d head back to the outcrop. No teeth this time. :( However, I found a huge (3") Cowrie, a lg limpet and a Parrotfish jaw! There was also the usual handfull of strombids, crab claws and neritas.
I was psyched about the Parrotfish jaw. I've never heard of a fossil specimen, although I"m sure they're out there.
Anyways, pics below.... |
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Cat shark tooth & a Pufferfish jaw!
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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Ya just have to laugh--I don't have enough pufferfish/porcupine fish jaws from Lee Creek, I have to get one here? LOL
We had a gale last weekend, which I figured might free up some fossils, and I was right.
My two best finds were a small cat shark (????) tooth, maybe 5 mm high, and a puffer/porcupine fish jaw!
Other finds include a nice limpet, another of the unknown bumpy gastropods (lower right), and a bunch of Strombids and cowries.... |
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Hawaii-- 2nd trip, a mako tooth! And a Sea Urchin!
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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I made a return trip to my secret spot, an hit a wealth of goodies this go around.
For starters, my second tooth! This one, a small mako (Isurus oxyrynchus) upper anterior is approx. 5/8" long, smooth, black & flawless. I saw it sticking out of the formation but thought it was just another jagged piece of lava rock. Alas, I was wrong! Sweet!
I also picked up a complete sea urchin (species TBD) about 1.25" in longest dimension, and a fish vertebra (species TBD)! The urc... |
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Yes Virginia, there are fossils in Hawai'i!
Oahu, Hawaii, USA |
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I relocated to Hawai'i in April, figuring that my fossil collecting days were behind me, to be exchanged for snorkeling, hiking, and maybe seeing the real thing in some of the shark-cage adventures.
But alas, I was wrong!
In my meanderings around O'ahu, I happened across a thin sedimentary sequence a few weeks back. They are scattered here & there across the edges of the island, and consist mostly of a mix of coral reef rubble and volcanic ... |
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