Blastoid (Pentremites) Plate - Oklahoma

This is a plate with a well preserved Blastoid fossil collected in Gore, Oklahoma. This fossil is Pennsylvanian in age, or approximately 320-300 million years old. The blastoid fossils have been cleaned using air abrasives and are present on the original matrix from the locality to create a beautiful display.

Blastoids are an extinct type of stemmed echinoderm related to crinoids. They would have attached themselves to the bottom of the ocean with an stalk and were filter feeders. The body, or theca, of blastoids resembles an acorn and is composed of interlocking armored plates. They first appeared in the Ordovician period, and reached peak diversity during the Mississipian before going extinct in the Permian extinction.