For #FossilFriday this week I present a little personal mystery I think I have now solved. Way back in my youth I collected a few of these spiny objects from #Miocene marine clays on the banks of the #RiverMurray . What are they? My first guess was that they were fish jaws from a small predatory fish. 🧵

A couple of weeks ago I posted my most recent find - a largish #Miocene echinoid from the River Murray. For #FossilFriday I'm posting the same specimen now that the preparation is complete.
#echinoderms #RiverMurray

I finished up my fossil trip a couple of days ago with a visit to a well-known road cutting near the riverside town of Mannum. There I found an unusually large echonoid for the site. It looked like a Eupatagus but was three times the length of a typical E. murrayensis from the site. After checking some papers I think it is E. collabus, the first time I've ever found the species.
#fossils #RiverMurray #Miocene #echinoderms

Here is a closer view of the Cadell Formation. About 90 percent of all fossils at the site are a single species of turritellid gastropod, but the other ten percent is fantastically diverse. I've counted over 200 mollusc species from here, and there are crustaceans, corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, echinoids, sharks teeth and the the occasional whale bone as well.
#fossils #Miocene #RiverMurray #turritellids

So I finally made it to my main objective. This is the type locality for the Cadell Formation. I've been visiting this site since I was about 12 (close to forty years). It has been a happy hunting ground and I've discovered, described and named three new species of mollusc fossil from here, with several more to come if I get the time to write them up.
#fossils ##RiverMurray #roadtrip #Miocene

The Mannum Formation is famous for containing literally millions of heart urchins (Lovenia forbesi). Here are some really crappy ones from the Mannum Formation near Murray Bridge. #Miocene #fossil #rivermurray #echinoderms

Murray River crayfish are in the news today.
Known as eukodko / ukodko Aboriginal women would catch them in Murray floodwaters by walking together in a close line.
Documented by E.J. Eyre, sketched by George Hamilton and painted 1844-45 by S.T. Gill.
See my Gill project (read, view pictures): https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill,_E_J_Eyre,_Symmetry_1844.htm#45
#S_T_Gill #AboriginalCulture #MurrayRiver #RiverMurray #SouthAustralia #ColonialArtAU

Want to see the #RiverMurray?

I highly recommend a trip to Bowhill. It's a little out of the way but well worth the effort. You'll have to go via the South Eastern Freeway and cross at Murray Bridge due to ferry closures.

You'll get to see the town, the General Store is trading, there's a lovely small park, and you'll see first-hand the devastation of the flooding. You can park next to the river making it fully accessible. On the way you'll get excellent views.

#SouthAustralia
#Floods

Morning all ☕

I have been wading in effluent this morning, less than 24 hours after freaking out a breakfast radio presenter and colleague on live radio when I asked for plant suggestions for my effluent patch.

You Cannot Make This 💩 Up

On the positive side, it means a guilt-free takeaway as I cook outside. I have a strong guts but 'Eau-de-E-Coli' has been a bit much this morning.

😂

Have Hettner Landing on the #RiverMurray as a palate cleanser. It's probably submerged right now though.

Thinking of all my river friends from my home town of Waikerie as they face what will be a very high river. Pic from the 1956 flood. #rivermurray #2022floods #waikerie #riverland