This is the "Fossil Friday" post #108. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected]. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!
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To help lead into the Braceville field trip this weekend, we have one of the iconic species from "Worm Hill". The Braceville spoil pile is known for jellies, clams, the occasional shrimp, partial plants, and worms... lots of worms. ESCONI member Maarten Vonhof sent us photos of what may be the best specimen of Mazopherusa prinosi many of us have ever seen! M. prinosi is comonly called the Fan Worm. We highlighted them back in Mazon Monday #31. Maarten's fossil has much more detail than what is usually seen. The segmentation of the body is fairly common, but many times the worm winds around the concretion in multiple dimensions, which can make the fossil cleave in many planes. There are more than a few stored as 3-D puzzles to allow seeing multiple sections of the animal. This specimen also has the rarely preserved plume-like appendages, which were attached to the end of the worm to allow it to filter feed.
Maarten, thanks for sending in these photos of a stunning fossil!
