| P number: | P549523 |
|---|---|
| Caption: | Siphonodendron junceum, a fossil coral. |
| Description: | Siphonodendron and Lithostrotion used to be considered to be one and the same genus. However, whereas the corallites are packed together in the former, in the latter the corallites are separated from each other. Siphonodendron is a colonial coral, and the illustrated specimen comes from the Carboniferous of Ecclefechan, southern Scotland. Siphonodendron junceum has elongate, corallites which are circular or ovoid in cross-section. When viewed from the top, the columella can be seen with numerous septa radiating away from it. Very thin, concentrically arranged plates (dissepiments) can also be seen. The cut away side view shows numerous tabulae stacked up one above the other; each tabular floor is a flattened dome. The columella which extends through the corallite can also be seen. Rugose corals may be either solitary or colonial animals. The coral is constructed of a calcareous skeleton subdivided by numerous plates called septa and dissepiments. The soft bodied animal (polyp) sat in a hollow in the top surface of the corallum (called a calice). They first evolved during the Ordovician and became extinct at the mass extinction event at the end of the Permian. |
| Photographer: | Unknown |
| Copyright statement: | NERC |
| Orientation: | Landscape |
| Size: | 557.89 KB; 1000 x 908 pixels; 85 x 77 mm (print at 300 DPI); 265 x 240 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Average Rating: | Not yet rated |
| Categories: | Best of BGS Images/ Fossils |
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