Cretaceous Sponge From Ruegen Island, Germany

[old digger]

Greetings,

I visited the Island of Ruegen on the Baltic Coast of Germany this summer. Flint nodules weathering out from its chalk cliffs are well known for an early Maastrichtian marine fauna consisting principally of sea urchins, belemnites, and sponges. The attached fossil was found on the beach, in shallow water, immediately south of the ferry terminal at Sassnitz. I'd welcome any leads on it as it does not resemble any sponge from the Ruegen fauna that I have seen so far.

[piranha]

This sponge from Rügen Island is: Aulaxinia sulcifera. The species is quite prolific in many upper Cretaceous European localities.

LINK 1

LINK 2

[old digger]

Thank you, piranha! Incidentally, there are a lot of people searching the Feuerstein (flint) for fossils on Ruegen. I'm sure the only reason I found this specimen was because it was under water.