Syringopora?

[mr fossil]

Hello

 why there is a Syringopora coral in a NEOGENE-Quaternary formation(Jeddah Saudi Arabia).

I regularly find this type of coral and it didn’t seem like much until I learnt that it (or something that looks very very similar)went extinct in the Permian 250 million years ago.

there are two possibilities 

1: this isn’t Syringopora 

2:it is Syringopora and it went extinct much later than we previously thought.

the last image is a real image of a Syringopora from the internet.

thank you for your time !  

Abdulrahman Toonsi

Edited February 3, 2022 by mr fossil

[Rockwood]

49 minutes ago, mr fossil said:

1: this isn’t Syringopora 

The septa are much too well developed. The connecting structures in your piece are actually diagenetic. A result of the fossilization process and not part of the coral.

[TqB]

I agree it isn't Syringopopra but a scleractinian. I think the connecting structures are original though, a platform shaped feature that many kinds of corals develop.

[oyo]

In no case Syringopora which is a primary coral.

Tubipora. Not Scleractinia but Octocorallia.

Connecting structures are part of the coral skeleton, as TqB said.

Edited February 3, 2022 by oyo

[TqB]

2 hours ago, oyo said:

In no case Syringopora which is a primary coral.

Tubipora. Not Scleractinia but Octocorallia.

Connecting structures are part of the coral skeleton, as TqB said.

I don't know much about octocorals but I thought they had eight septa? The first specimen here has twelve or more and the ends don't look like the open ends of Tubipora in images that I can find.

 

The penultimate specimen does look like Tubipora. 

[oyo]

3 hours ago, TqB said:

I don't know much about octocorals but I thought they had eight septa?

Yes, Octocorals have eight septa or multiples of eight. In the same way that hexacorals have six septa or multiples of six.

It should be noted that the last cycles may not be complete. It is something very common.

Most of these specimens (2/3) look like Tubipora to me, although it is true that there are some specimens that might not be.

The specimen of the scale is not clear to me. Externally it might seem but the section is not clear to me. I have tried to look for longitudinal sections of these corals but have not found any.

The 2nd and last photographs have never been taken into account.

Edited February 3, 2022 by oyo