Description

Asteroid
Ordovician (Ashgillian)
Drumwick Group – Starfish beds
Threave Glen, Girvan, Scotland

Very nice 9mm starfish on 37mm matrix.

Echinoderm.

Tetraster is a genus of starfish known from the Ordovician of Scotland and is also one of the early members of the group.

Starfish are generally uncommon as fossils because they disintegrate quickly after death, but in some rock layers where conditions allowed, they can be found in good numbers – deposits where rapid burial occurred to seal them in sediment. Most fossil starfish are missing the ends of their arms or even entire arms.

Here’s an ancient and remarkably complete specimen for your collection.