Description
Stenaster obtusus Starfish from the Ordovician Period
Starfish are actually animals that are called echinoderms. Like their modern relatives, they lived in shallow salt water seas and lagoons. They lived during the Paleozoic.
This Fossil Stenaster Starfish is a species of Brittle Star Starfish. They shared a basic body styles with others consisting of arms and a central body. But these Brittle Stars had longer and more slender arms and a smaller body that other starfish.
These creatures thrived in the warm inland sea like the one that covered the area during the Ordovician Period These animals were living near what is now Brechin, Ontario Canada when under water they were established near a delta system that periodically buried the colonies in silt. This silt eventually hardened into stone that preserved the starfish in glorious detail.
This is a Fossil Stenaster Starfish and sadly this one was damaged and lost some of the arm tips as it sat on the ocean floor. Because of the strong currents sometimes animals would fall apart after death. Still for the Bobcaygeon Formation fauna collector these are very rare fossils from the quarry.
The starfish is 1 inch at its widest point and sits on a gray colored matrix 3 inches x 2 1/4.
Professionally prepared with micro air abrasive technology.
