Limestone Pavement West of Ireland

[Barry in Ireland]

Greetings from Ireland.

I'm not a fossil person, so could I get an ID on this please?

This is from limestone pavement in County Mayo, Ireland. What fascinated me was that it is still 3D, standing proud 0.5cm of the pavement, while the 'valves' are somewhat intact and hollow to a degree.

I'd be more used to seeing 'flat' fossils in 2D, if you know what I mean.

The card is 8.5cm long, so this spécimen is 17x17cm. Other examples were elongated,  approx 17x26cm, while others were smaller. 

Thank you. 

 

[Fossildude19]

Welcome to the Forum.

This looks like some sort of colonial coral, to me.

Wait for some other opinions, though.

 

Pretty specimen! 

 

@westcoast  @TqB

[westcoast]

Yes, originally calcite, the colonial coral 'skeleton' has been replaced by silica and now stands out slightly above the limestone surface as silica dissolves more slowly than the surrounding limestone.

[TqB]

It's almost certainly a species of either Siphonodendron or Diphyphyllum. You'd need internal detail and budding patterns to distinguish them.