The joint was jumpin' under the ocean of the ancient Monterey Bay 5-million years ago ...

 

The joint was jumpin' under the ocean of the ancient Monterey Bay 5-million years ago ...

Some fossilized friends from the Pliocene Purisima Formation of Santa Cruz

 

The extinct sand dollar species Dendraster ashleyi / D. gibbsii and the crab Cancer sp.

“Cliona, the Parasitic Marine Sponge”

 

Some sea sponges like this 5 million year old Cliona here are parasitic, drilling into the calcium carbonate shells of other marine creatures to set up residence, in this case the host shell of a giant princess slipper snail, Grandicrepidula princeps. What we are seeing here is the fossilized trace of the Cliona sponge’s drillings on the inside of the snail's shell; a calcitic cast of the  internal mesh chambers of the sponge's drillings inside the snail's shell.  Like an ant mound casting, this represents the trace of the sponge’s home, a cast of it, inside the shell of the snail, a subfield of paleontology dealing with traces of ancient life called “ichnology”.  The drilling traces of the sponge can be so advanced and weakening the shell that the snail would have been more vulnerable to predators, making the interaction truly parasitic.You Tube Video: ​​https://youtu.be/bLPpwTlfiog

 

Advancements in Best Practices for Mitigation Paleontology
First update in the last 15 years to guide mitigation paleontology in California and elsewhere. This is super important for our practice and gives teeth to the foundational work of Paul Murphey, et. al. 2019, "A Foundation for Best Practices in Mitigation Paleontology". What is still needed is legislative protections and guidelines akin to what archeology has in place. Much more work is needed. https://www.paleosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Murphey-et-al.-2019-Best-practices-in-mitigation-paleontology.pdf, and https://vertpaleo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/SVP_Mitigation_Paleontology_Best_Practices_First_edition_October_2025.pdf

The Giant Carnivorous Sea Snail Clinopegma stantoni

The story of Clinopegma stantoni has been simmering here in Santa Cruz County for the past 116 years but is one that has been 5 million years in the making!  A little background on the name and history of this giant sea snail: Clino refers to slope and pegma is peg = pointed stick  The species is named in honor of Dr. Timothy W. Stanton, chief paleontologist. United States Geological Survey, whose work on Mesozoic faunas is well known.

The genus Clinopegma was named by Ulysses S. Grant, IV and Hoyt Rodney Gale published in 1931 in their monumental work on Pliocene and Pleistocene fossil mollusks of California.  Interestingly, here, U.S. Grant the IV, was the grandson of Ulysses S. Grant the first, president of the United States.  His grandson became a distinguished professor of paleontology at Berkeley

With regards to Clinopegma stantoni the species was named by Ralph Arnold in 1908 from the Año Nuevo park on the south side of the point in the upper member of the Purisima Fm. between Tunitas Creek and Pescadero Creek and near Ano Nuevo Creek in San Mateo County and also between New Brighton and Capitola beaches here in Santa Cruz and a couple other minor places and that’s it!

Coincidentally, Arnold also named a brand new species of Brittle Star, Amphiura sanctaecrucis that very same year of 1908 and that was discovered high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains and recently re-discovered en masse, dozens of individuals, in what’s called a brittle bed, but more on that in the movie…

Interested in Paleontology and Fossils?

 

If you are in Santa Cruz tonight and looking for some fun fossiliferous festivities, please consider dropping by the Santa Cruz  Museum of Natural History and checking out our booth Pacific Paleontology, Inc. and looking into our new Internship Programs for kids and adults!  https://bit.ly/PaPaExpedition   https://loom.ly/BLtV_VE .

Air scribe technique for one of our recent fossil whale discoveries...

 

Air scribe technique for one of our recent fossil whale discoveries...

Paleontological Find of the Century!

 

This is quite possibly the paleontological find of the century in Santa Cruz, literally!  An extinct deep sea brittle star, named over 120 years ago in honor of Santa Cruz; Amphiura sanctaecrucis, found high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains!  With gratitude out today to forthcoming coauthors Charles L Powell, John Barron, Sabine Stöhr, and others.

https://hilltromper.com/article/rare-santa-cruz-brittle-star-fossils-shine-new-light-local-paleontology 

Pacific Paleontology teams with California State Parks and the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for great weekend expeditions in search of ancient fossils

 Young and old alike had a wonderful time this past weekend on expeditions exploring for the fossilized remains of hundreds of creatures turned to stone in the rock layers of the ancient Monterey Bay and beyond with Pacific Paleontology, hosted by #CaliforniaStateParks and the #SantaCruzMuseumofNatural History.  If you or someone you know has an interest in paleontology, please contact @PacificPaleontology at https://dot.cards/papa for more information on our upcoming internship opportunities for youth and adults’ “Paleontologists in Training” programs this coming spring.

#FossilFriday, #Paleontologist, #paleontology, #pacificpaleontology, @pacificpaleontology, #beachfossils, #SantaCruz, #santacruzcounty, #fossil, #AnoNuevoStatePark, #LosOsos, #SantaCruzMuseumofNaturalHistory,

Every Object has a Story to Tell

 

Sandhills Habitat History Update; another journey back into Deep Time.  When I started finding these strange "rocks" as a kid exploring around our ancient ocean Sandhills Habitat here in Santa Cruz, I was curious what they could possibly be, since I suspected they may not in fact be rocks.  And they aren't!  These are the crushing mouth plate "teeth" of the Sheepshead Wrasse, Semicossyphus sp., which are used to crush clams, crabs, and fish!  Interestingly, all sheepshead fish are born female and most mature into males later in life, living up to 21 years of age.  They still live in the ocean waters of Monterey Bay today!  The next time you find an interesting natural object,  it may have a fascinating story to tell you! 

And here is an excellent guide to the Sandhills Habitat "Islands" in Santa Cruz County: https://zayantesandhills.com/Zayante%20Sandhills%20Conservation%20Bank%20web/SANDHILLS%20Information.pdf

#FossilFriday, #Paleontologist, #paleontology, #pacificpaleontology, @pacificpaleontology, #beachfossils, #SantaCruz, #santacruzcounty, #fossil

 

Please consider joining Pacific Paleontology and CA State Parks for this fun family fossils walk back in time to the Pliocene Era a few million years into the past.  Free.  https://ranchodeloso.org/events/.

HAPPY NATIONAL FOSSIL DAY MONTEREY BAY 2024 FROM PACIFIC PALEONTOLOGY!

HAPPY NATIONAL FOSSIL DAY MONTEREY BAY 2024 FROM PACIFIC PALEONTOLOGY!

Grandicrepidula princeps, the Princess Slipper snail.

 

Good morning from Pacific Paleontology.  Here’s a recent 3-D scan we made of a fossil giant Grandicrepidula princeps, the Princess Slipper snail.  3D scanning has gotten a lot easier today, and we made this one with a simple app for iPhone called Photo Catch.  It took about 2 minutes to create from video and the app also has a Mac Desktop version and we use it frequently for these projects.  And even though I say the worms are parasites in the video, I'm not sure they actually caused the snail any harm; they may thus just be commensal as well.  Enjoy.

Screen washing sediments for macro- and micro-fossils

The end of our screen washing season is drawing to a close here at Pacific Paleontology with the approaching Winter rains here in Santa Cruz.  This is one of the Pliocene 4-5 million year old samples that we are running through our screen processing this week. 

A Three Dollar Morning

 

These are fossil Dendraster ashleyi or Dendraster gibbsii Sand Dollars from the

Purisima formation Here.  They are embedded in their original tomb along with

ghost shrimp burrows on the beach. These are about 5 million years old and I'm about

to extract them. Alright, here they are after I extracted them from their watery, sandy

tomb, they've been released to go back and be free again.  Back to the lab to be

prepared to go to the museum. Here we go.  This is back at our labs preparing the

sand dollars for their trip to the museum. Using glues (adhesives) and consolidants

(which are preservatives).  First we remove the sand from the sand dollars.  And the

sand has entombed them, like I said, for the last 5 million years.  And once that sand is

completely removed and brushed off, we'll apply a protective coating of consolidant

to harden the sand dollars which we're doing here.  Thanks for watching and enjoy

these beauties.  It was a three dollar morning.

#Paleontologist, #paleontology,  #SantaCruz, #Monterey, #santacruzcounty, #pacificpaleontology, @pacificpaleontology, #beachfossils, #fossil, #fossilhunting, #fieldwork, #beachcombing, #santacruzmuseum, #MontereyBay, #SCMNH, #universityofcaliforniamuseumofpaleontology, #UCMP, #californiaacademyofscience, #academyofscience,  #ucmpberkeley, 

False Alarm

 

Pacific Paleontology was recently called out to one of our paleo mitigation contract sites with the message that "bones have been found"!!  We excitedly arrived only to find this!  Neither paleontological nor archeological these bones, which were inadvertently moved from their original positions by the construction crew, are from a modern (Recent) Mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus and so not of historical importance for our team.  #paleontology, #SantaCruz, #santacruzcounty, #Monterey, #montereycounty, #paleontology, #mitigationpaleontology, #fossil, #pacificpaleontology, @pacificpaleontology, #Constructionsite, #fossilhunting, #archeology, #bones, 

“From the Ancient Sea, to the Rock, to the Lab, and Onward to the Museum”

 

This is WT967; the extinct sand dollar Dendraster ashleyi (Arnold, 1907) or Dendraster gibbsii (Rémond, 1863).  Discovered in May 2024 embedded in its 5 million year old sandy seafloor tomb, now turned to stone on a Santa Cruz beach, this specimen has been prepared and is on on its way to the Department of Invertebrate Geology at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco as a small component of our scientific research into the paleontology and evolution of life in the ancient Monterey Bay.  We are additionally examining the Pliocene current-protected sediments from under these ancient sand dollars for microscopic fossilized plankton called foraminifera to help us refine the age and environments that these faunas represent.  Very exciting ongoing research happening here at Pacific Paleontology Labs.

Pacific Paleontology Advances to the Finals Round of the “Monterey Bay Small Business Startup Challenge”

We are pleased to announce that our firm, Pacific Paleontology, has advanced to the Finals Round in the Monterey Bay Small Business Startup Challenge! We are extremely excited about this opportunity and that our new small business enterprise (SBE) has won this level of accolade and look forward to the potential of moving forward!

https://www.startupmontereybay.com/startup-challenge/

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DGKIpaoV9O_SajwFfYhh37zFWVFAVV78icTgfiaRyco/edit#slide=id.p1

Donations to build fossil sifting screens needed

 

Good morning friends. The non-profit arm of our SBE family firm, Pacific Paleontology, is fundraising to build two fossil sifting screens for the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History like the ones seen here. The screens are for an upcoming fossil hunting expedition in Santa Cruz that our company will be leading and that will be sponsored by the museum. The cost to build the two screens is a nominal $200.00 and your donation would be tax deductible. Please DM if you're interested in contributing and I'll explain the other benefits too!

 

Rare 4-petal mutation of the sand dollar Scutellaster oregonensis (Clark, in Dall, 1909) recently donated to our paleontological research by beachcomber and collector Wendy Frye and identified by Richard Mooi of the @California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. This is from the Purisima Formation here in Santa Cruz and is on the order of 2-3 million years old. As you may recall, echinoids typically have pentagonal (5-part) symmetry, making this discovery on par with a 4-leaf clover. This one is on its way to the paleontology collections of the Academy tomorrow on my monthly migration. Thank you Wendy!