Coral ID, please.

[Tidgy's Dad]

I purchased this little rugose horn coral from a fossil, crystal and mineral dealer in Spain a few years back.

The label is definitely wrong i at least that it should be Tryplasma loveni.

I have T, loveni from the British Much Wenklock Limestome Formation and it looks rather different to this and I don't know of the species nbeing found in Morocco,

The specimen doesn't look anything like any Ordovician coral I know, so may be Silurian. Most horn corals in Morocco are Devonian. But this does sort of look Silurian in the colour of its preservation, but that's not a great way to tell.

It may not even be from Morocco, maybe Spanish, they sometimes say it's from Morocco as you are not supposed to collect, sell or export fossils in Spain, I think, so they sometimes change the country of origin.

I have looked about a bit on the net but cannot find anything that matches, though I think I have seen the species before somewhere.

Here are some better photos:

Very pointed base:

The top:

Any guesses most welcome.

Tarquin @TqB? Any ideas?

 

Thank for looking everyone.

[FossilDAWG]

Looks like the epitheca is completely abraded off, which may make identification difficult.  At any rate, it doesn't look like any Ordovician coral I am familiar with.

 

Don

[TqB]

Not enough to go on I think, without a good location at least. (And I'm no good at Ordovician and only a bit better at Silurian ones!) 
It seems to have regular, widely spaced tabulae which might be OK for Tryplasma, but there looks to be an axial structure which it shouldn't have.

[oyo]

I think that the epitheca has not disappeared but rather appears in the form of epithecal rings. It is common in scleractinia corals. I don't know if it is a common trait in primary corals.
The specimen looks like a scleractinian coral although I don't recognize the genus. I may also be completely wrong. Consider it a risky bet.
From what I know of Spanish and Moroccan sellers, their labels are usually not very reliable for different reasons. Some have already been taken into account in this post.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Thank you very much to Don @FossilDAWG, Tarquin @TqBand @oyo for your input.

I appreciate all your comments very much.

It was always going to be a long shot without a correct label and thus location, or a polished cross-section.

 

For now, I will put it down as "quite pretty coral".

Thanks also to all who had a look.

 

Life's Good!

Adam

[TqB]

On 1/25/2024 at 10:39 AM, oyo said:

I think that the epitheca has not disappeared but rather appears in the form of epithecal rings. It is common in scleractinia corals. I don't know if it is a common trait in primary corals.
The specimen looks like a scleractinian coral although I don't recognize the genus. I may also be completely wrong. Consider it a risky bet.
From what I know of Spanish and Moroccan sellers, their labels are usually not very reliable for different reasons. Some have already been taken into account in this post.

Scleractinian is distinct possibility if it isn't abraded rugose.

Edited January 26 by TqB

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hmmm.

Possible, but I will bet wifey that this is Palaeozoic, probably Devonian.

[oyo]

We are looking at a specimen that clearly comes from one batch. The most probable origin is Morocco, not certain, just more probable. That batch traveled to Spain and could have been contaminated with almost anything else.
Silurian, Devonian, Ordovician..... more pollution.
Typlasma Tryplasma that doesn't look even the slightest.
Now comes a guy who says it reminds him of some Scleractinia in one way. As I told you, mine is a risky bet.
In my town we say that... "la cosa está jodida".
Bad luck, with better data we would be talking about it differently. It is what it is.
Greetings to all.