What is this? Coral? Crinoid?

[matgerke]

Any idea what this is?  Found in Virginia, in the Devonian-era Mahatango Formation.  There were a few of them embedded in the rock, but all were too secure to remove safely.  They appear to be a white film, and sort of spiral up out of the rock.

 

As another oddity, these were white, whereas other nearby fossils (molluscs mostly) were dark.

 

[Rockwood]

Tabulate coral

[matgerke]

Great, thanks.  Looks like tabulate coral on the surface -- I am still a bit confused because it looks like a film.  Do they typically present that way, rather than as a solid mass?

[daves64]

I think that is a solid mass, just covered over with sediment that hardened & then partially weathered away.

[Rockwood]

Are you familiar with the practice of making flower containers look as if the blooms had been spilled from them ?

I think that may have been somewhat the shape of this colony.