Please help identify this possible fossil. . .

[Arkaleus]

Hi gang,

This forum seems like the best place to get a really good opinion on this. I want you to take a look at this link and tell me what you see.

Home

I know that as soon as you find out where this picture was taken, you will immediately color your judgment and some of you may refuse to believe your eyes. But please, try to identify what kind of squid this may be, and please help me identify the anatomical components of this fossil.

Thanks,
Arkaleus

 

[Phil]

Well, identifying an animal in the patterns in these images of rocks is a little like a Rorschach ink blot test - you can see what you like in them but it doesn't mean they truly represent anything,

I'm afraid it's impossible to identify what type of squid fossil it is as there is, unfortunately, no evidence that squid originated on the planet Mars, built spacecraft and travelled to Earth to populate the world's oceans. Even if by some outrageous chance that staining pattern truly is a fossil, it is pointless to catagorise it in a terrestrial order of animal as by definition it is alien.

Sorry!

Welcome too Arkaleus!

 

[Arkaleus]

Let me try to simplify my question. Do you see identifiable features on this pattern that correspond to fossil squid familiar to you? If so, please name them. Do the proportions of features seem correct for squid physiology, eg. the eyes the correct proportion, the features correctly placed, the tentacle patterns, the body, etc.

Look at this if you had picked up this stone while walking on the earth. If it makes you feel better, you can qualify your observations with conditional statements. Does this pattern have squidlike features, or not?

 

[Phil]

I know you do not want me to say this, but quite frankly, no I can't see any squid features beyond what you have drawn on the rock. How could there be any?

Apologies to be blunt, but I don't think you'll get much support for your theory that Mars was once populated by ancient cephalopods here. Don't forget that soft-bodied squid fossils are unbelievably rare on this planet let alone the chances of Spirit or Opportunity rumbling along and bumping into one.

I'm sure it is perfectly possible that life may once have started on Mars when the planet was covered in oceans, but why any such animals that may once have evolved would fit into taxonomic classifications of animals that evolved on Earth is beyond me.

 

[erich orser]

Have you ever heard of Cthulhu? This might explain everything.

 

[MikeLookingLost]

Hmmm this is like one of those hidden image games where you have to move your head about and cross your eyes.

But i agree with Phil wholeheartedly when, if there is a fossilised body in a mars rock it couldn't be classified by terrestrial comparison. It could of had completely differnt internal systems etc depending on the atmosphere, climate etc.

Just my two cents so it doesnt really count for much

 

[erich orser]

Nahh, dude. It's obviously because of Cthulhu. Can't you see that? I mean, duh...

 

[Phil]

Well said Mike, and a most hearty welcome to TONMO to you!

You've joined at an most interesting time indeed, more news than one could shake a tentacle at!

 

[MikeLookingLost]

Hi and thanks
Yeh been quite an interesting time recently for researchers i should imagine. I've always been interested in Squid and Octopi, just happerned to chance over this site while reading about the recent Colossal Squid on the BBC site. And have already learnt more then i ever knew.

 

[cthulhu77]

Those photos are classified. Where did you get them?

 

[tonmo]

OK, good show everyone, but any further ridicule here wouldn't be healthy at this point... If this keeps going on its current course I'll go ahead close the thread, but right now I'll leave it open in case anyone wants to make any further serious points on this...

So Arkeleus, to close this discussion, the point being made here is that no one thinks there's any credible discussion to be had on this. I think Phil made the point most succinctly by comparing it to a Rorschach ink blot test.

 

[Architeuthoceras]

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Perhaps it's a coprolite? Phil, didn't you spend a tremendous amount of money years ago buying a donut-shaped one? Was yours from Mars?

 

[Arkaleus]

Classified photos, no. They are publicly available on the official Mars rover website.

Phil has said before,
Just you wait, one day a fossil will be found on Mars which will knock us all into a cocked hat!

I must admit this image is not as perfect as you might like, but if I were to have found this rock on earth, and offered it to you as this photo, I think your answers may have been different. I think you have given me a judgmental opinion, and not truly said what deserves to be said of this possible fossil. I wanted help identifying possible features. Even if this is just a one in a million rock, does that rock ridge look like a tencacle, or does that rock depression look like a perfectly formed cephalopod eye?

One thing is absolutely certain: I will NEVER again eat calamari without thinking of this image.

 

[DHyslop]

I must admit this image is not as perfect as you might like, but if I were to have found this rock on earth, and offered it to you as this photo, I think your answers may have been different.

This is quite an accusation.

I worked at a geology museum for a few years in college. I've had all sorts of weird rocks thrust into my face that were purported by their owners to be dinosaur eggs, meteorites or even 'space diamonds.' Often times the owner doesn't like to hear the less glamorous truth and walks away muttering about what biases I have against him or how he found it. You seem to be sharing that sentiment.

If you really think that people would answer differently, then why don't you put it on a page without pictures of Mars and go around and ask? Let us know what people say, I can't wait to hear back.