#bryozoans

[transparentfossil]

8.6" Plate w/ Crinoid Holdfasts, Bryozoans & Trilobites Parts- Indiana

[smithsonianlibrariesarchives]

An illustration of bryozoans from Alfred Moquin-Tandon’s The World of the Sea [1869]. Referred to in the text as an “animal moss”, these animals live in sedentary colonies and are often mistaken for plants.

Full text available here.

[shadyufo]

Went for a stroll at the creek today. Here's a few little crinoid fossils and a nice chunk of matrix with fossilized bryozoans and coral I found along the way.

[ancientfrozenglaciershark]

AAH this is such a hard question haha

Thanks so much for asking @insectsinthestars ! I felt like this required some photos!

I truly do not think I have a favorite, I tried to pick one but I could not. I love them all so much. Here are a few that mean the most to me though!

This blob of Bryozoans! This one is special to me because it is a chunk of just pure Bryozoans, it is actually super light and REALLY delicate. Every time I set it down, it sheds some particles. The fact that this survived the elements for potentially hundreds of millions of years makes my heart tighten up.

These are also the largest branches I have found, by far! (Bryozoa are tiny tiny animals that live in colonies, similar to coral)

Of course, I have to include my ONE trilobite haha. Yeah, that was a good day. I kinda love that it is just his little booty, hehe. Maybe one day I will work up the courage to attempt to chisel the rest of it out, I just reallllly do not wanna damage it. But yea.. man, do i cherish it

And I would honestly feel bad not including any Brachiopods, since they make up 80% of my fossils. But again, I really can’t choose a favorite:( I have a lot and I love them all. So these one’s are from the very beginning of my fossil hunting days (2019) and I can still remember finding them and crying in the woods :’)

[guccilavalamp]

Always hit funny looking rocks with a hammer just in case

[intelligentliving]

Sea Organisms Are The New Natural Source of Breakthrough Medicines

Believe it or not, most drugs available today are derived from natural sources. For example, Penicillin was identified from common bread mold and aspirin from the willow tree. And while nearly all drugs’ roots lie in land-dwelling organisms, research recently suggests that marine invertebrates produce more anti-cancer, antibiotic, and anti-inflammatory...

[shrimp-bird]

Bryozoans, better known as the communists of the sea...

[morphofan]

Blobby things at the lake, today. Seem to be something called bryozoans, tiny creatures that live in a big colony. Think coral, only without the crunchy bits. Never seen such a thing in all my years. #bryozoans #bryozoa #bryozoancolony (at North Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB60V7BlkWq71F422vNmKQ-uSPhWARHrhWWgic0/?igshid=1d64jlwj7684a