Fossil Devonian Coral Head

Devonian Age - 419–359 million years ago. Coral is neat stuff. For the uninitiated, it just looks like a cool rock living on the ocean floor, but in reality it’s actually a living animal. While that might be news to some of you, it’s still really cool to think about. What’s even cooler is the fact that coral has been around for a very long time. About 500 million years, to be exact. These particular specimens are approximately 419–359 million years old, and you really wouldn’t think it given the level of detail present here. The term “coral head” refers to the rounded or mound-shaped structure formed by many individual coral animals (polyps) living together in a colony. Think of this as a prehistoric apartment complex for ocean-dwelling polyps. These particular ones were discovered in Morocco, out in the Sahara Desert. What? Don’t you find sea life in your local desert? No? Well, that’s because millions of years ago the Sahara wasn’t a gigantic patch of dried sand. Back then, it was actually an ocean. One of the most important times was during the Devonian Period, which is when these coral heads formed. See? We told you they are neat.