Siphonophrentis gigantea
| Siphonophrentis gigantea Temporal range: Middle Devonian
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| Genus: | O'Connell 1914
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| Species: | S. gigantea
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| Siphonophrentis gigantea (Lesueur 1821)
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Siphonophrentis gigantea is an extinct species of giant rugose coral.[1] It lived during the Middle Devonian period of the Paleozoic era.
Paleoecology
[edit]Siphonophrentis gigantea was aquatic, like all corals. It is part of the phylum Cnidaria, and possessed a polyp that lived inside of its calyx. It had a calcium-carbonate skeleton (the only part that survives fossilization) that was covered with soft tissue. Living examples of this species would have anchored themselves by the apical end to the seabed, while the tentacles of the polyp caught prey or marine snow.
According to one study,[2] Siphonophrentis gigantea may have been a deep-water species of coral. The matrix around one specimen was rich in nutrients when the rock was formed, meaning it likely formed in water where nutrients are more plentiful. The species likely had no association with Zooxanthellae (a microorganism that has a symbiotic relationship with most extant coral),[3] and therefore was likely colorless and unable to photosynthesize.
Another study in 1964 also indicated that this species grew upwards at a rate of approximately 15.21 centimetres (5.99 in) every 399 days (a year in the Devonian).[4]
References
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- ^ "Siphonophrentis gigantea; YPM IP 218504; North America; USA; Kentucky; Jefferson County; Falls of the Ohio".
- ^ McCall, Christian R (18 October 2018). "Exceptional new fossil of Siphonophrentis gigantea". PeerJ Preprints. doi:10.7287/peerj.preprints.27282v2.
- ^ Birkeland, Charles (1997). Life and Death of Coral Reefs. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-0-412-03541-8.
- ^ Scrutton, Colin T. (1964). "Periodicity in Devonian Coral Growth". Palaeontology. 7, Part 4: 552–558. ISSN 0031-0239 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
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