Coral - Favosites sp.

myminifactory

Lovely example of the Silurian coral Favosites. This colony has several other fossil remains on its surface, including various corals and brachiopods. This specimen comes from Dudley but shares the same age as material found on Wenlock Edge. Favosites is an extinct genus of tabulate coral characterized by closely packed polygonal corallites, earning it the common name "honeycomb coral". Walls between corallites are pierced by pores known as mural pores, allowing for nutrient transfer between polyps. Like all coral, Favosites thrived in warm sunlit seas, forming vibrant reefs and feeding on microscopic plankton with stinging tentacles. The genus had a global distribution from the Late Ordovician to the Late Permian. This image was captured using a Canon 5DS R camera and Stackshot 3x turntable, which provided 114 images processed using Agisoft Photoscan at high levels. This object is scanned by Fossils in Shropshire.