4.7" Rough Fossil Coral (Actinocyathus) - Morocco

This is a beautiful piece of rough fossil coral collected near Assa Zag, Morocco in Western Sahara. It is Early Pennsylvanian in age, or approximately 320 million years old. This type of coral looks very similar to the fossil coral "Petoskey stones" found in Michigan, though these are a different genus.

The specimen has been left in its rough state and is accompanied by an acrylic display stand.

The genus is Actinocyathus, a type of rugose coral. It had been previously identified as Hexagonaria from the Devonian, though that initial information appears to be incorrect. A paper on the fossil coral assemblage can be found at the link below:

Mississippian-like rugose corals from a Bashkirian biostrome in the Tindouf Basin, S. Morocco