Is this a coral?

[Mosasaurhunter]

Hello, I found this on a dirt road next to an exposure of a late Cretaceous deposit and I thought it looked like some kind of branching coral of some type but I’m not sure any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Edited September 28, 2023 by Mosasaurhunter

[Fossildude19]

Looks more like a bryozoan or a sponge, to me.

[BobWill]

Have you considered comparing it to local sponges?

[Mosasaurhunter]

Thank you for the help, I have found similar sea sponge/coral like objects like this one on the same dirt road in a layer of gray and orange sand.

[Ludwigia]

I'm in the sponge camp.

[FossilDAWG]

It might be a sponge, but it doesn't look organic to me.  What about a fulgurite?  These form when lightning strikes sandy soil, melting some of the sand and fusing it into a hollow tube.

 

BTW neither sponges nor branching corals are known to occur in any of the Georgia Cretaceous deposits.  Small solitary corals can be found in some shell-rich clay beds in the Ripley/Cusetta Sand/Blufftown.  Generally corals, especially colonial corals, don't like muddy environments with sediment, and prefer clear warm water with carbonate deposition.

 

Don

[Mosasaurhunter]

I considered that possibility but I don’t think that’s it because I’m finding so many of them and that was just one of my best examples but I have other stuff that I found at different locations on that dirt road that looked like modern day tropical sea sponges, but thank you for replying though I appreciate any feedback.