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Description: | Specimen of a fossil echinoid (sea urchin), Metopaster rugatus, collected from the Sussex White Chalk Formation of Late Cretaceous, Turonian - Campanian age from Kent (SE England). Collected by J. Goring.
This starfish has a pentagonal (five-sided) body without any arms. Its test (skeleton) consists of massive plates which, when alive, enclosed smaller inner plates that protected the starfish's soft body. Starfish live and move around on the sea floor using tube feet. They are predators that feed on a variety of sea creatures including molluscs, brachiopods, corals, sea urchins and even other starfish! Starfish have evolved slowly and show few changes over time in the fossil record.
The specimen was found in Kent.
It is from the Cretaceous period (144 - 65 million years ago) | Publisher: | Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums | Subjects: | Classification: Animalia Echinodermata Invertebrata J. Echinoidea Goring | Temporal: | Cretaceous period (144 - 65 million years ago) | Source: | Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums | Identifier: | http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/geofinder/se... | Go to resource |
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