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Florida(?) coral


Northern Sharks

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This is a little bit out of my range for age and location, but a friend of mine was asking if this coral he has could be identified. He is a mineral collector, got this in a collection purchase,  and the only info he has for this piece was that it came out of Florida. I know it's not much to go on, but I'm hoping it's distinctive enough to get a possible ID and age. Thanks in advance

20221207_212505.jpg

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    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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There are few branching corals in the tropical western Atlantic (which includes Florida). Given the size of the corallites and the fact that they are exserted ("outies" not "innies") that precludes the acroporids and the poritids. The coral branches and corallite sizes seem way too large for Madracis auretenra which leaves us with the genus Oculina.

 

The branch thickness is too thick for O. tenella (Delicate Ivory Bush Coral)  and O. diffusa (Diffuse Ivory Bush Coral). The species O. arbuscula (Tube Coral) is more densely branched clumps without longer branches. This leaves 2 remaining extant species--O. robusa (Robust Ivory Tree Coral) and O. varicosa (Large Ivory Coral). The robust branches look more in line with O. robusta and the corallites look larger so I'm going to tentatively side with this identification. The polyps of O. robusta are around 6 mm in diameter and those of O. varicosa only average half that (2-3 mm). Here is a good reference (with skeletal images) to compare with:

 

http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/species_factsheets/species_factsheet_summary/oculina-robusta/

 

http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/species_factsheets/species_factsheet_summary/oculina-varicosa/

 

This specimen looks too clean of any calcareous matrix and the septal detail too sharp for this to be a fossil specimen but then I have seen fossil corals buried in sandy matrix that look just as clean as modern specimens tossed up on a beach after a storm. If this is an extinct species and not an extant one then I'm well out of my depth as I only know my living scleractinian coral species from years of coral reef research. Quite possibly Mike will have more to say. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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