Answer Monday!


Photo Credit: King.... via Compfight cc

Last week, I showed you a fossil inspired by my recent trip to Washington, DC. Although the fossil in question came from Washington state. What was it?

We got a lot of answers—most of them declared it was most certainly a sleeping cat!  Although the swirl in the fossil had the look of a snoozing tiger, it was in fact a sea organism from the Eocene. Who correctly identified it first? None other than the aptly named Valerie First!

Valerie correctly identified the fossil as an Aturia sp. Interestingly, I was unable to find much information on this specimen. The Encyclopedia of Life has some lovely pictures and a distribution map, showing that the family Aturiidae expanded beyond our western shores to Europe and even Australia and Africa. 

Such a lovely fossil. Does someone out there know more about this critter? If so, please share your knowledge with us in the comments section below!

 

Minda Berbeco
Short Bio

Minda Berbeco is the former Programs and Policy Director at NCSE.