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Description: | Specimen of a fossil echinoid (sea urchin), Echinocorys ovatus, collected from the Chalk Formation of Late Cretaceous, Turonian - Campanian age.
The test (skeleton) of this sea urchin has been replaced by (changed to) flint (silica). The smooth shape shows that the sea urchin burrowed in soft seabed sediments. When it was alive, the test was covered with skin and short bristle like spines that helped Echinochorys burrow. It lived in an open sea environment where the salinity (salt content) of the sea water was normal. Echinochorys fed on food particles that it found in sediment it ate. Its mouth is on the flattened lower surface.
It is from the Cretaceous period (144 - 65 million years ago) | Publisher: | Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums | Subjects: | Classification: Animalia Echinodermata Invertebrata Echinoidea | 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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