| P number: | P550266 |
|---|---|
| Caption: | Encope, a fossil echinoid. |
| Description: | Encope is an unusually-shaped echinoid, sometimes called a 'sand dollar'. It is a burrowing sea urchin that first evolved about 20 million years ago during the early Miocene times and is found living in the tropical and warm temperate seas of North and South America and the West Indies. Encope has a flattened test. It has five notches around the periphery of the test marking the position of the petals of the ambulacra. The underside is illustrated to show the specialised branched food-collecting grooves which channel food particles towards the small round mouth. The anus is shown immediately below the mouth in the illustration. Echinoids (sea urchins) have lived in marine habitats since the Ordovician times, about 450 million years ago. They still live today, inhabiting many shallow, near shore seas around the world. As fossil echinoids resemble living species, we have an idea how they must have lived. They had spines which are used for protection. Some species protected themselves from carnivores by having poison-tipped spines while others had large, unpalatable solid spines. Echinoids burrowed into the sand or crawled over the sea floor on their tubed feet, which extended from the paired pores on the star-like or petal-like areas (the ambulacra). They grazed and scavenging algae and plants or ate small particles in the sandy substrate. |
| Photographer: | Unknown |
| Copyright statement: | Unknown |
| Orientation: | Landscape |
| Size: | 515.68 KB; 1000 x 992 pixels; 85 x 84 mm (print at 300 DPI); 265 x 262 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Average Rating: | Not yet rated |
| Categories: | Best of BGS Images/ Fossils |
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