The Earth Story

Chain coral This hand sample is a really spectacular example of a fossil type known as a Chain Coral from the Silurian.

Each cell, or each link in this chain, was the home of a different individual organism or polyp. The proper name of this genus is Halcyites. They were generally small corals; this sample is only about 10 cm across. These lines evolved during the Ordovician and went extinct at the end of the Permian.

This sample was found at the Wrens Nest site, Dudley, West Midlands, UK. The location actually became Great Britain’s first National Nature Reserve site due in part to the quality of the fossils at that location. The sample is owned by the Black Country Museums.

-JBB

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackcountrymuseums/4397360829

Read more: http://www.thinktank.ac/page.asp?section=478

Chain coral This hand sample is a really spectacular example of a fossil type known as a Chain Coral from the Silurian. Each cell, or each link in this chain, was the home of a different individual organism or polyp. The proper name of this genus is Halcyites. They were generally small corals; this sample is only about 10 cm across. These lines evolved during the Ordovician and went extinct at the end of the Permian. This sample was found at the Wrens Nest site, Dudley, West Midlands, UK. The location actually became Great Britain’s first National Nature Reserve site due in part to the quality of the fossils at that location. The sample is owned by the Black Country Museums. -JBB Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackcountrymuseums/4397360829 Read more: http://www.thinktank.ac/page.asp?section=478