Brachiopod fossils Northern Africa Silurian period Paleozoic age 1/2 pound

Description

1/2 pound of Brachiopod fossils sized approximately 1  to 1 1/2 inches long  by 3/4 to 1 1/4 inches wide and  1/2 to 1 inches deep, scooped from fossils as pictured with the picture taken dry.These specimens are from North Africa near the Sahara desert and are nice specimens for hands on educational use as well as collections. Apart perhaps from the trilobite, no other organism typifies the Age of Invertebrates more than the brachiopod. They were the first bilaterian animals to lose their mobility and encase their bodies in a solid external shell.  Despite a superficially similar appearance to clams, they are actually completely different in their anatomy, belonging to the group known as the Lophophorata, which use a fringe of tentacles known as the lophophore to sweep food particles into their mouths.  Brachiopod's are rare today, but during the Paleozoic era (especially from the Middle Ordorvician period onwards) they absolutely dominated every benthic (bottom-living) marine ecology.The fossils offered here are from the Silurian period of the Paleozoic age and were found in the fossil fields of northern Africa.Great educational and hands on learning fossil specimens.