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Article: Significance of coiled protocoralla in some Mississippian horn corals

Publication: Palaeontology
Volume: 20
Part: 1
Publication Date: January 1977
Page(s): 47 58
Author(s): William J. Sando
DOI:
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Abstract

Planispirally coiled protocoralla are described in Cyathaxonia tantilla (Miller) from the Lower Missis-sippian (Lower Carboniferous) of the western United States, the first record of this phenomenon in corals. Coiling is interpreted as a mode of attachment of young coralla to planktonic algae. The postulated pseudoplanktonic growth habit may be a significant factor in the widespread distribution of this species and other species of Cyathaxonia, which are generally found in rocks that record a bottom environment considered unfavourable for optimum coral growth.
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