Description

Dactyloidites asteroides
Jellyfish
Early Cambrian
Metawee Slate
Middle Grantville, New York, USA

220mm x 140mm slab with three. Biggest is 85mm.

Dactyloidites is a rosette-shaped trace fossil that that has been interpreted as a jellyfish.  At least one researcher has proposed a non-organic origin for it but others have stated that it may be the pattern left by the feeding or burrowing of a worm-like animal.  These forms have been seen in Cambrian, Carboniferous, Cretaceous, and even Neogene deposits.

Unusual and attractive whatever it is – could be an art piece to some.