#fossil echinoderm slab

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.

[alphynix]

Cambrian Explosion Month #14: Phylum(?) Cambroernida

Modern hemichordates and echinoderms are the closest living relatives of each other, part of a larger lineage of deuterostome animals known as ambulacrarians – but they also seem to have had some other strange cousins during the Cambrian.

Cambroernids were a bizarre group with branching feeding tentacles and a gut enclosed in a coiled sac. They came in a range of forms from worm-like to cup-like to disc-shaped, and despite their fossils being known since the early 1900s their evolutionary affinities were a longstanding problem. Various species had been interpreted in the past as sea cucumbers, jellyfish, tunicates, gnathiferans, or lophophorates, but in recent years they've been recognized as all being related, and linked to the ambulacrarians.

And it's still not entirely clear where in that group they actually belong. They were probably a weird early stem lineage, but they might also be early stem-hemichordates or stem-echinoderms.

Herpetogaster collinsi was one of the main links in figuring out the relationships of the cambroernids. Known from both Nevada, USA, and Canada, this worm-like animal lived around 516-508 million years ago, with a closely related species Herpetogaster haiyanensis also known from southwest China (~518 million years ago).

It was about 4cm long (1.6") and had a slightly helical clockwise-curling body with about 13 segments, and long paired tentacles on its head that branched in a fractal-like pattern. A flexible extendible stalk-like structure with an attachment disc grew from the middle of its body, sometimes attached to the sponge Vauxia, and multiple individuals have been found clustered together on the same fossil slabs suggesting they often lived in groups.

Its actual ecology isn't really known. It was probably a suspension feeder, extending its tentacles to catch plankton and organic particles in the water, but some specimens have been found in association with small hyolith shells, and in the Chinese species some of those shells are preserved inside its mouth and gut cavity – suggesting a possible predatory mode of life instead.

———

Eldonia ludwigi is known from hundreds of specimens from the Canadian Burgess Shale (~508 million years ago), with a slightly older Cambrian species Eldonia eumorpha also known from China (~518 million years ago).

It was originally mistaken for a sea cucumber when it was first discovered in the early 1900s, then a few decades later it was reclassified as a jellyfish based on its round disc-like shape, and then later again it was linked with brachiopods and bryozoans due to its cluster of tentacles being interpreted as a lophophore.

But with the discovery of Herpetogaster its true cambroernid affinities became more obvious. Eldonia had the same clockwise-coiled gut and branching feeding tentacles, but lacked the attachment stalk and instead had a more flattened form with its sac-like body expanded and fused into a tough but flexible wide disc.

It grew up to about 10cm in diameter (4") and seems to have been similarly gregarious to Herpetogaster, often found in groups of multiple individuals. Sometimes lobopodian worms are also found in close association with Eldonia, possibly predating or scavenging on them.

But much like its relative its overall ecology is still uncertain. Back when it was thought to be a jellyfish it was assumed to be a free-swimming animal (with the lobopodians riding around on it!), but it was later recognized as a mostly-stationary creature that lived laying on the seafloor. Even then, though, it was unclear which way up it rested – the lophophore interpretation assumed it had the tentacles waving up above itself, suspension feeding, but the fossils are almost always preserved the other way around with the tentacles facing downwards below the disc.

Possibly it could extend its tentacles out beyond the disc and sweep them across the seafloor, feeding on whatever organic detritus or small prey it encountered.

———

Whatever the cambroernids were doing, they must have been fairly good at it because the Eldonia-like forms survived for around 140 million years. Impressions of their disc-shaped bodies are found in various locations around the world throughout the early Paleozoic, and the last known fossils come from the mid-Devonian about 380 million years ago.

———

Nix Illustration | Tumblr | Pillowfort | Twitter | Patreon

[sciencespies]

Alien-like sea creatures discovered at a huge 'Jurassic Pompeii' graveyard

https://sciencespies.com/nature/alien-like-sea-creatures-discovered-at-a-huge-jurassic-pompeii-graveyard/

Alien-like sea creatures discovered at a huge 'Jurassic Pompeii' graveyard

Paleontologists have uncovered an enormous fossil graveyard of squiggly, alien-like Jurassic sea creatures beneath a limestone quarry in the UK’s Cotswolds region.

The fossil find includes perhaps tens of thousands of marine invertebrates called echinoderms – meaning “hedgehog skin” in Greek, and including the ancient ancestors of modern starfish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and frilly-limbed sea lilies – immaculately preserved at all stages of their life cycles, the researchers said in a statement.

But right when things were booming, the thriving seabed community met a cataclysmic end; a mysterious catastrophe – perhaps a mudslide triggered by an earthquake – suffocated and entombed the animals for 167 million years.

Related: In photos: Spooky deep-sea creatures

“What we’ve got here is a sort of Jurassic Pompeii,” Neville Hollingworth, an amateur fossil hunter who discovered the cache on a hike with his wife Sally, told BBC.com.

“[The creatures] tried to protect themselves, adopting the stress position of pulling their arms in, but it was all in vain,” Tim Ewin, a paleontologist and senior curator at the Natural History Museum of London, told BBC.

“They were pushed into the sediment and buried alive.”

One of the slabs. (The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London)

The site dates to the middle Jurassic period (roughly 200 million to 145 million years ago), when gargantuan sauropods and bloodthirsty theropod dinosaurs had the run of the land. At sea, things were in transition; as many as half of all marine species had died in an extinction event at the end of the Triassic period, and spindly-armed echinoderms were evolving like mad to fill the gap.

Noted for limbs that radiate out of their bodies in sets of five, echinoderms had become highly successful at grabbing passing food with their spiny arms, according to the researchers. Some, like starfish and sea cucumbers, could feel their way along the bottom of the ocean. Others, like sea lilies, anchored themselves in place and waited for meals to come to them.

This seabed site was likely quite shallow, perhaps measuring about 65 to 130 feet (20 to 40 meters) deep, the team said. Whereas it was located in central England today, the area was closer to what is now North Africa in the mid-Jurassic, and the waters were far warmer than they are now.

While it’s impossible to know what exactly doomed this massive community, the researchers are thankful for whatever it was; if not preserved beneath smothering mud, these ancient creatures would have likely been picked clean by scavengers, leaving little behind to study, the team said.

With thousands upon thousands of diverse specimens to examine, the researchers hope to learn more about echinoderm evolution during the Jurassic – including the description of several new species. Alongside the animals, the team also found preserved wood and pollen samples in the rocks, which could reveal more details about climate changes at the time.

“We’ll describe in detail the new species and describe the variability of the plants and animals we have found at the site,” Ewin said in the statement. “There will be another project looking at the population dynamics of the particular echinoderm groups and what that tells us about their ecology.”

Related Content: 

In photos: Ancient fish skull from Siberia

In images: Graveyard of ichthyosaur fossils in Chile

Photos: First sex revealed in fossilized, square-dancing fish

This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.

#Nature

[phylojennny]

Welcome reception

Last night (Sunday) was the welcome reception for the conference. It started at 4 PM so we took the train over to the conference center around 3:15 and found a few other attendees along the way! I failed to get images of the food spread but it was so good!

There was a small ceremony to break the lid of the sake barrel and we drank out of these small wooden boxes! It was fun and interesting! I took a video of the ceremony but will have to post it separately.

After the reception ended around 6 PM we wandered over the the university museum! They had a really cool arthropod exhibit on mostly crabs and a small but nice echinoderm exhibit upstairs and downstairs was a whole variety of natural history!!

Below are burrows made by crabs in a shallow beach environment!

In the down stairs area there was a huge whale! I have never seen one up close before so that was really cool! There was also lots of petrified wood, slabs of fossils, and other more anthropological things like human skulls and tools from different ages!

[javleech-blog]

New Post has been published on Jav Leech

New Post has been published on https://javleech.com/dancing-brittle-stars-tell-an-ancient-story-of-existence-and-dying-in-brutal-seas/

Dancing brittle stars tell an ancient story of existence and dying in brutal seas

  Strangely stylish and exquisite, brittle stars are a set of starfish-like sea creatures. They exist in each coloration below the solar, and some even shine with bioluminescence in the dark.

The oceans of the sector nowadays team with approximately 2, anyone hundred species of brittle stars (scientific call “ophiuroids”), on the whole residing in deep water. But they’rahistoric creature, too.

Read more: From brittle stars develop a tree of lifestyles

We recently posted our report on a brand new genus and species of brittle famous person. Known as Teleosaster creasyi, it represents the primary brittle megastar described from the fossil report in Western Australia and lived 275 million years ago.

  The evolution of brittle stars / The Conversation. The five brittle stars that formed this discovery look like they’re dancing throughout the siltstone block on which they are fossilized, even arm-in-arm.

This large amongst brittle stars (approximate diameter of 15 cm) is extra than 10 times the scale of any recognized current brittle famous person, and is an evolutionary hangover.

It is the final regarded complete “archaic” brittle superstar, sharing a basic morphology and existence conduct with bureaucracy that first advanced in the early Ordovician term (approximately 475 million years in the past). It lived in Early Permian (Kungurian) time, about 25 million years earlier than a brilliant mass extinction occasion that marked the give up of the Palaeozoic Era. This became an important time in Earth records, whilst all of the predominant companies of marine animals evolved and a few colonized the land.

  Telecaster creasy brittle stars lived 275 million years in the past. Ken McNamara, Author supplied Our discovery is exciting because it shows that that more historical paperwork lived at the same time as today’s “current” sort of brittle celebrity that developed approximately 360 million years in the past.

These fossil brittle stars are also charming because they throw mild on one of the main using forces in evolution – predation strain.

Read extra: Sludge, snags and surreal animals: a voyage to take a look at the abyss

Ancient ocean meadows

Go again 275 million years, when Australia lay ways to the south of its gift position. The seas than have been bloodless, as the Earth had simplest just emerged from a tremendous ice age. Wild storms surged in from the west, and rancid the coast of what is now Western Australia, marine animals lived a tenuous existence.

Still, the ocean teemed with existence and supported massive meadows. But these have been now not grass meadows, nor even seagrass meadows. They had been echinoderm meadows.

Echinoderms are a set of “spiny pores and skin” sea creatures. Plant-like stalked crinoids (sea lilies) have been dominant, with stems that anchored them firmly into the silty sand. With massive cups perched at the stems, and sinuous arms catching plankton from the water, they look for all of the globals like weird, warty tulips. Crawling among them were chunky starfish as large as dinner plates.

The handiest delicate animals were the brittle stars, slinking throughout the silt on five tentacle-like hands that emerged from a vital shroud-like disc.

  Once a historical sea floor, Gascoyne Junction is observed in Western Australia. Google Maps Today the wild seas of those historic times have long past, however, the beds of silt that they churned up and redeposited now outcrop as the rock in the bed of the river at Gascoyne Junction, east of Carnarvon in Western Australia.

Known as the Cundlego Formation, these siltstones are one of the most surprising examples of echinoderm Meadows recognized everywhere in the fossil file. The fossils represent a “lifestyles assemblage”; in other words, the community was frozen in time in the very spot in which they lived, suffocated by way of sand and silt throughout a violent typhoon.

  A fossil slab gives a picture of a protracted long past ocean floor. Ken McNamara, Author supplied Predation strain

Our research has proven that these newly diagnosed brittle stars endured in excessive latitude seas, whereas the “present day” kinds occupied warmer low latitudes seas. What drove the “archaic” forms far away from the low latitude seas? In our opinion, it turned into because of predation pressure.

It has commonly been notion that echinoderms, like many other corporations of organisms, underwent primary evolutionary modifications after “the super loss of life” (because the Permo-Triassic mass extinction 250 million years in the past is every so often referred to as).

The brittle stars, although, appear to have bucked this fashion with the aid of evolving into the modern guise a great deal earlier. These forms evolved an arm morphology that turned into lots extra bendy than that inside the older paperwork. They should in all likelihood move faster, scuttling throughout the ocean ground on their extra cellular arms, and also advanced the capacity to burrow in the sand and silt.

  A current day brittle megastar, Ophiothrix speculate. World Register of Marine Species, CC BY-NC-SA The cause for the evolution of these developments turned into due, in our opinion, to the upward push in shell crushing animals at some stage in Palaeozoic instances, particularly chondrichthyan fishes (the organization consisting of sharks and rays) and Heu malacostracans (the group that includes crabs) in low latitudes.

The brittle stars with their “cutting-edge”, agile body bureaucracy had been capable of withstanding this predatory onslaught in low range seas, however, the extra lumbering ancient type turned into pushed into geographic areas in search of safe haven wherein there were fewer of those predators, in this example into high latitudes.

Interestingly, there is a current analog today in the seas around Antarctica. Here there are many echinoderm meadows, with the sea floor teeming with gradual-transferring invertebrates, along with countless brittle stars, sea urchins, and starfish.

Predation stress from shell crushers is noticeably low, although latest fears of the appearance of armies of king crabs, in all likelihood connected to the warming of Antarctica, indicates that our hypothesis is probably put to the take a look at sooner than we would have liked.

Many greater of those historic Permian echinoderm Meadows continue to be to be studied in Western Australia. This will assist us to better understand the modern patience of this ancient surroundings, and how we might also help to keep those starry meadows into the geological destiny.

[lavleech-blog]

Dancing brittle stars tell an ancient story of existence and dying in brutal seas

New Post has been published on https://javleech.com/dancing-brittle-stars-tell-an-ancient-story-of-existence-and-dying-in-brutal-seas/

Dancing brittle stars tell an ancient story of existence and dying in brutal seas

  Strangely stylish and exquisite, brittle stars are a set of starfish-like sea creatures. They exist in each coloration below the solar, and some even shine with bioluminescence in the dark.

The oceans of the sector nowadays team with approximately 2, anyone hundred species of brittle stars (scientific call “ophiuroids”), on the whole residing in deep water. But they’rahistoric creature, too.

Read more: From brittle stars develop a tree of lifestyles

We recently posted our report on a brand new genus and species of brittle famous person. Known as Teleosaster creasyi, it represents the primary brittle megastar described from the fossil report in Western Australia and lived 275 million years ago.

  The evolution of brittle stars / The Conversation. The five brittle stars that formed this discovery look like they’re dancing throughout the siltstone block on which they are fossilized, even arm-in-arm.

This large amongst brittle stars (approximate diameter of 15 cm) is extra than 10 times the scale of any recognized current brittle famous person, and is an evolutionary hangover.

It is the final regarded complete “archaic” brittle superstar, sharing a basic morphology and existence conduct with bureaucracy that first advanced in the early Ordovician term (approximately 475 million years in the past). It lived in Early Permian (Kungurian) time, about 25 million years earlier than a brilliant mass extinction occasion that marked the give up of the Palaeozoic Era. This became an important time in Earth records, whilst all of the predominant companies of marine animals evolved and a few colonized the land.

  Telecaster creasy brittle stars lived 275 million years in the past. Ken McNamara, Author supplied Our discovery is exciting because it shows that that more historical paperwork lived at the same time as today’s “current” sort of brittle celebrity that developed approximately 360 million years in the past.

These fossil brittle stars are also charming because they throw mild on one of the main using forces in evolution – predation strain.

Read extra: Sludge, snags and surreal animals: a voyage to take a look at the abyss

Ancient ocean meadows

Go again 275 million years, when Australia lay ways to the south of its gift position. The seas than have been bloodless, as the Earth had simplest just emerged from a tremendous ice age. Wild storms surged in from the west, and rancid the coast of what is now Western Australia, marine animals lived a tenuous existence.

Still, the ocean teemed with existence and supported massive meadows. But these have been now not grass meadows, nor even seagrass meadows. They had been echinoderm meadows.

Echinoderms are a set of “spiny pores and skin” sea creatures. Plant-like stalked crinoids (sea lilies) have been dominant, with stems that anchored them firmly into the silty sand. With massive cups perched at the stems, and sinuous arms catching plankton from the water, they look for all of the globals like weird, warty tulips. Crawling among them were chunky starfish as large as dinner plates.

The handiest delicate animals were the brittle stars, slinking throughout the silt on five tentacle-like hands that emerged from a vital shroud-like disc.

  Once a historical sea floor, Gascoyne Junction is observed in Western Australia. Google Maps Today the wild seas of those historic times have long past, however, the beds of silt that they churned up and redeposited now outcrop as the rock in the bed of the river at Gascoyne Junction, east of Carnarvon in Western Australia.

Known as the Cundlego Formation, these siltstones are one of the most surprising examples of echinoderm Meadows recognized everywhere in the fossil file. The fossils represent a “lifestyles assemblage”; in other words, the community was frozen in time in the very spot in which they lived, suffocated by way of sand and silt throughout a violent typhoon.

  A fossil slab gives a picture of a protracted long past ocean floor. Ken McNamara, Author supplied Predation strain

Our research has proven that these newly diagnosed brittle stars endured in excessive latitude seas, whereas the “present day” kinds occupied warmer low latitudes seas. What drove the “archaic” forms far away from the low latitude seas? In our opinion, it turned into because of predation pressure.

It has commonly been notion that echinoderms, like many other corporations of organisms, underwent primary evolutionary modifications after “the super loss of life” (because the Permo-Triassic mass extinction 250 million years in the past is every so often referred to as).

The brittle stars, although, appear to have bucked this fashion with the aid of evolving into the modern guise a great deal earlier. These forms evolved an arm morphology that turned into lots extra bendy than that inside the older paperwork. They should in all likelihood move faster, scuttling throughout the ocean ground on their extra cellular arms, and also advanced the capacity to burrow in the sand and silt.

  A current day brittle megastar, Ophiothrix speculate. World Register of Marine Species, CC BY-NC-SA The cause for the evolution of these developments turned into due, in our opinion, to the upward push in shell crushing animals at some stage in Palaeozoic instances, particularly chondrichthyan fishes (the organization consisting of sharks and rays) and Heu malacostracans (the group that includes crabs) in low latitudes.

The brittle stars with their “cutting-edge”, agile body bureaucracy had been capable of withstanding this predatory onslaught in low range seas, however, the extra lumbering ancient type turned into pushed into geographic areas in search of safe haven wherein there were fewer of those predators, in this example into high latitudes.

Interestingly, there is a current analog today in the seas around Antarctica. Here there are many echinoderm meadows, with the sea floor teeming with gradual-transferring invertebrates, along with countless brittle stars, sea urchins, and starfish.

Predation stress from shell crushers is noticeably low, although latest fears of the appearance of armies of king crabs, in all likelihood connected to the warming of Antarctica, indicates that our hypothesis is probably put to the take a look at sooner than we would have liked.

Many greater of those historic Permian echinoderm Meadows continue to be to be studied in Western Australia. This will assist us to better understand the modern patience of this ancient surroundings, and how we might also help to keep those starry meadows into the geological destiny.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Brittle Stars (Ophiura) – Ordovician Draa Valley Morocco, Starfish Plate Specimen

A rare and visually striking Fossil Brittle Star Plate featuring multiple Ophiura specimens, preserved in fine marine sediment from the Ordovician Period of the Draa Valley, Morocco. This beautifully detailed slab captures the delicate morphology of ancient echinoderms that lived over 450 million years ago in the warm, shallow seas of what is now North Africa.

Ophiura are part of the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to modern-day brittle stars and starfish. These marine invertebrates are characterised by their central disc and long, flexible arms which they used to scavenge and filter food from the seafloor.

Fossil Type: Brittle Star (Echinoderm)

Genus: Ophiura (tentative)

Geological Age: Ordovician Period (~485–443 million years ago)

Formation: Likely Fezouata or equivalent Ordovician marine formation

Depositional Environment: These fossils formed in a shallow, tropical marine shelf setting with fine-grained calcareous muds. Exceptional preservation is due to rapid burial under anoxic conditions, often associated with storm deposits or microbial mats.

Morphological Features:

Central disc with five radiating arms

Arms display segmentation and flexible articulation

Multiple individuals preserved in natural orientation

Notable:

Rare and detailed echinoderm fossil from North Africa

Excellent display slab for collectors or educators

The exact specimen photographed is the one for sale

Authenticity: All of our fossils are 100% genuine natural specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. Please refer to the image – the scale cube represents 1cm for accurate size reference.

This Ophiura brittle star fossil slab from the Draa Valley offers a remarkable glimpse into Ordovician marine life and is a scientifically important and aesthetically beautiful collector’s piece.