CNIDARIA

What period is the Brain coral from?

Mesozoic-Cenozoic (Jurassic - Recent)

What period does Scleractinia belong to?

Mesozoic-Cenozoic (Triassic-Recent) -- the scleractinian corals have been around since the Triassic period of the Mesozoic

What is the common name for fungia?

Mushroom coral

What is Pachyphyllum?

Pachyphyllum is a common colonial rugose coral with distinctive morphology

What geologic age does Pachyphyllum belong to?

Paleozoic (Devonian)

What geologic time period is Hexagonaria from?

Paleozoic (Devonian)

What geologic period are Favosites from?

Paleozoic (Ordovician - Devonian)

What geologic period are Tabulata from?

Paleozoic (Ordovician - Permian)

What is the geologic age of Rugosa (Order)?

Paleozoic (Ordovician-Permian)

What's the state stone of Michigan?

Petoskey Stones!

What are "Petoskey Stones"?

Petoskey stones are pebbles of colonial regose coral (Genus Hexagonaria) found along the shores of Lake Michigan. The fossil coral pieces have been rounded and smoothed by wave action

What is the common name of the rugose corals?

"Horn Coral"

What's the common name for favosite?

"honeycomb coral" due to the closely packed polygonal corallites that resemble a honeycomb

What were the most common tabulate corals during the Paleozoic?

Favosites and other members of the Favositidae family

Where does the name Petoskey come from?

The town of Petoskey, Michigan located near the site of these interesting beach pebbles

What does the corallum (coral colony) of the tabulate corals consist of?

many closely spaced corallites (individual tubes). The tubes may be circular, elliptical, or polygonal in cross section

What are Tabulate corals?

- common Paleozoic fossils - skeletons of calcium carbonate (calcite) - not as diverse as the rugose corals (there were about 300 genera of tabulate corals compared to about 800 genera of rugose corals) - marine benthic animals that formed large masses of limestone and they were one of the most important reef-builders of the Silurian and Devonian

Why did brain corals live in shallow water?

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Whats the a common name for Scleractinia?

Brain coral

What geologic period are septastrea from?

Cenozoic (Miocene and Pliocene of the Tertiary)

What is the geologic age of fungia?

Cenozoic (Recent)

What Phlyum is the order Rugosa under?

Cnidaria

What Phylum is the Order Scleractinia part of?

Cnidaria

What Phylum is the Order Tabulata a part of?

Cnidaria

What Phlym and Order is the genus Hexagonaria part of?

Cnidaria (Phylum) and Rugosa (Order)

What Phylum and Order is the Genus Pachyphyllum a part of?

Cnidaria (Phylum) and Rugosa (Order)

What is the Phylum and Order of Favosites (Genus)?

Cnidaria (Phylum) and Tabulata (Order)

What are the characteristics of Hexagonaria?

Hexagonaria has a tightly packed colony of corallites and the corallites have a distinctive six-sided form (this is easier to see on a polished piece)

Is Hexagonaria a reef-builder?

Hexagonaria was a major reef-builder during the Devonian

What is the morphology of fungia?

It has a characteristic disc shape and large prominent septa that resemble a mushroom.

What area did Hexagonaria live?

It is a common colonial rugose coral with world-wide distribution

What are Rugose corals?

Rugose corals are common Paleozoic corals with a robust skeleton of calcium carbonate

Where do Rugose corals get their name?

Rugose corals get their name from the fact that the epithecal wall (outer wall) of the corallite (the skeleton created by an individual coral polyp) is wrinkled (rugose comes from the Latin word for wrinkled)

What order do all modern stony corals belong to?

Scleractinian order

Where can you find Septastrea?

common colonial scleractinian coral fossil of the east coast. colonies were large and branching and pieces are common

How do we compare scleractinian corals to tabulate and rugose corals?

The first scleractinian corals appeared after the tabulate and rugose corals of the Paleozoic and their origin is unclear. Although the scleractinian corals are younger than the rugose corals and tabulate corals, their skeletons, light and porous and made of aragonite, are less readily preserved so their fossil record is less complete

Are Tabulate corals colonial or solitary?

The tabulate corals were always colonial - there were no solitary forms

What are Scleractinia?

They are marine, benthic animals with skeletons of calcium carbonate (aragonite not calcite). There are about six hundred genera - some colonial and some solitary - and they come in many shapes (from massive lumps to delicate branches) and sizes. The colonial forms are found in shallow, tropical waters and form reefs. The solitary forms are found in a wider variety of habitats, including temperate and polar waters, and do not form reefs

What happens when you wet Petoskey stones?

When dry, the pebbles look like rather ordinary rock, but when the pebbles are wet you can see the biological nature of the specimen, note the coral morphology

What phylum and order are fungia (genus) a part of?

cnidaria (phylum) and scleractinia (order)

What phylum and order are the septastrea (genus) a part of?

cnidaria (phylum) and scleractinia (order)

Where did brain corals live?

colonial corals that thrive in warm, shallow, marine environments.

Where are favosites found?

found world-wide and is common here in New York

What are Brain Corals?

group of scleractinian corals (Family Faviidae) composed of many genera. They get their name from their spheroid shaped and grooved surface which resembles an animal brain

what are solitiary rugose corals commonly called?

horn corals

What is the most distinctive characteristic of the tabulate corals?

how they got their name, the small horizontal dividers along the length of each corallite

what does Tabulae in latin mean?

little tables

Where do these solitary corals live?

live on a soft substrate rather than hard surfaces

What form is fungia?

solitary form

How big can brain corals get?

some brain corals can reach more than six feet in width

Why are Scleractinian corals sometimes called hexacorals?

the addition of six septa at a time

What is the bottom of the corallite called?

the base

What is the top of the corallite called?

the calice

What is the calyx?

the calyx is where the coral animal lived, in the calyx you can see the very distinct radial septa (vertical walls)

What do the corallites of septastrea look like?

the corallites are prismatic and tightly packed. each corallite has six long septa that meet in the center of the corallite to form an axial structure. septastrea is a good example of why the scleractinian corals are called hexacorals

What is the morphology of Pachyphyllum?

the corallites in the corallum are not bounded by polygonal walls. Each corallite has a central conical elevation at the top of which is a crater-like pit

What is the corallum (colony structure) composed of?

the corallum is composed of prismatic corallites in contact with each other but separated by strong walls, the septa are clearly visible in each corallite

Which rugose corals are more easily identified?

the easiest rugose corals to recognize are the solitary varieties with their horn-shaped form. Note the epithecal (outer wall of the corallite) wrinkles and the distinct septa (vertical walls) that can be seen in the calice (the cup-shaped top of the corallite)

Walls between corallites on favosites?

the walls between the corallites are thin but distinct and the tabulae are well developed, complete and numerous

How do individuals live in brain corals?

within the colony there are no walls between the individual animals as there are in most corals but the septa are distinct (note the plates perpendicular to the ridges)