Description

Conularid
Mississippian
Bear Gulch Limestone
Fergus County, MT USA.

33mm on 117mm slab.

Conularids (aka conulariids) make up a group of cone or pyramid-shaped invertebrates that have been classified within the Phylum Cnidaria with which they share fourfold symmetry but their exoskeleton is quite different from any cnidarian.  Some paleontologists suggest the known genera should be assigned to their own phylum.  In outward appearance they might have resembled crinoids from a distance as they were also attached to a stalk anchored to hard objects on the seafloor.

Conularids were long-lived as a group, appearing in the Ordovician and dying out sometime in the Triassic.