ID? For the coral experts

[Max-fossils]

Hey all,

 

I unearthed this nice piece of fossil coral again from my collection.

I got it a long time ago, and I don't have any info on it whatsoever (no location nor age).

But I think it might be possible to put a species on this one. And with some luck (actually a lot of it), maybe we can guess where it came from and what it's age is!

 

Any help appreciated!

 

Max

 

Top:

 

Bottom:

 

[Max-fossils]

Sides:

[Darktooth]

That is a nice coral max! Unfortunetly I don't know much about them to be any help.

[Hapchazzard]

I'm not a coral expert by any means, but just throwing in my (possibly inaccurate) 2 cents in here. It's kind of hard to see from the picture, but there appear to be tabulae in the cross section. If there indeed are, it's obviously a tabulate coral. If not, it's most likely a stony coral. It doesn't really remind of any tabulate coral I've ever seen, though. The general appearance resembles a stony coral to me far more.

[Max-fossils]

23 minutes ago, darctooth said:

That is a nice coral max! Unfortunetly I don't know much about them to be any help.

Thanks!

16 minutes ago, Hapchazzard said:

I'm not a coral expert by any means, but just throwing in my (possibly inaccurate) 2 cents in here. It's kind of hard to see from the picture, but there appear to be tabulae in the cross section. If there indeed are, it's obviously a tabulate coral. If not, it's most likely a stony coral. It doesn't really remind of any tabulate coral I've ever seen, though. The general appearance resembles a stony coral to me far more.

Thanks for the help!!! I have no clue what tabulae are, or what they look like, so I'll just listen to what you say... Let's wait till someone can confirm your statement.

 

Max

[Hapchazzard]

35 minutes ago, Max-fossils said:

Thanks for the help!!! I have no clue what tabulae are, or what they look like, so I'll just listen to what you say... Let's wait till someone can confirm your statement.

 

Basically, as tabulate corals grew, the corallites(the individual polyps themselves) would advance upwards and deposit new "platforms" called tabulae on which to stand. As the coral continuously grew, new tabulae would be formed, but the old ones would stay intact inside the coral. Here's a picture that illustrates it much better than words:

 

 

So tabulae are horizontal walls that divided the vertical "growth chambers" into multiple segments. As I said, a quick cursory look at your coral reveals what appear to be tabulae, but it's hard for me to say definitively. Someone else with more experience should definitely offer input.

[abyssunder]

All I could say (as a non-expert) is that you have a water-worn "Brain Coral", a meandering scleractinian coral. If the corallites are arranged in valleys and the neighbouring valleys share ridges (walls) the coral is meandroid (as form). If the corallites from adjacent valleys don't share walls, the coral is flabello-meandroid.

[Max-fossils]

12 hours ago, Hapchazzard said:

 

Basically, as tabulate corals grew, the corallites(the individual polyps themselves) would advance upwards and deposit new "platforms" called tabulae on which to stand. As the coral continuously grew, new tabulae would be formed, but the old ones would stay intact inside the coral. Here's a picture that illustrates it much better than words:

 

 

So tabulae are horizontal walls that divided the vertical "growth chambers" into multiple segments. As I said, a quick cursory look at your coral reveals what appear to be tabulae, but it's hard for me to say definitively. Someone else with more experience should definitely offer input.

That is very informative!

Judging by that, I don't think it's a tabulate coral then.

 

Thanks,

 

Max

[Max-fossils]

7 hours ago, abyssunder said:

All I could say (as a non-expert) is that you have a water-worn "Brain Coral", a meandering scleractinian coral. If the corallites are arranged in valleys and the neighbouring valleys share ridges (walls) the coral is meandroid (as form). If the corallites from adjacent valleys don't share walls, the coral is flabello-meandroid.

Thanks for the help!

[FossilDAWG]

Google "brain coral" or "rose coral" (Manicina).  It is a scleractinian coral, possibly Recent.  It has none of the features that distinguish tabulate or rugosan corals.

 

Don

[HansTheLoser]

Extant coral. Diploria.

[abyssunder]

I think your coral is Manicina areolata ("Rose Coral"), the second growth form (Hemispherical). Can be confused with Meandrina meandrites (butterprint brain coral) which sometimes occurs in same habitats. - see link

 

 

Colonies of M. areolata are usually not larger than 12cm, common in shallow backreef environments close to the sediment.

 

Thomas Suchanek. A Guide to the Identification of the Common Corals of St. Croix.

 

 

[Harry Pristis]

For comparison:

 

[Max-fossils]

On 2/12/2017 at 8:13 PM, abyssunder said:

I think your coral is Manicina areolata ("Rose Coral"), the second growth form (Hemispherical). Can be confused with Meandrina meandrites (butterprint brain coral) which sometimes occurs in same habitats. - see link

 

 

Colonies of M. areolata are usually not larger than 12cm, common in shallow backreef environments close to the sediment.

 

Thomas Suchanek. A Guide to the Identification of the Common Corals of St. Croix.

 

 

 

 

23 hours ago, Harry Pristis said:

For comparison:

 

 

Thanks both!