Fossil Collection Coral
Coral

Horn Corals are from the extinct order of corals called Rugosa. Rugose means wrinkled. The outside of these corals have a wrinkled appearance. Horn Coral grows in a long cone shape like a bull’s horn. The fossil is the skeleton of the coral animal or polyp. The animal lived at the top of the cone. They had many tentacles sticking out to gather food.
This Horn Coral is called Trilophyllites and is from the mid Mississippian Period. That makes it about 340 million years old.

Corals are members of the phylum Cnidaria. Coral is made by tiny animals that secrete calcium carbonate. Coral can be solitary (horn coral) or colonial. Corals live attached to the bottom of the sea. Coral are filter feeders whose tentacles snag tiny particles of food.
This particular coral is the colonial type. It is called Thamnopora. It is from the Devonian Period, and was found in Morocco.

Astrhelia palmata Corals are an extinct colonial coral from the Miocene Epoch of the Neogene Period. It was found in Clavert County, Maryland.