1.13" Petraster Starfish Fossil - Morocco

Species: Petraster

Age: Upper Ordovician (443.1 to 458.2 million years old)

Formation: Kataoua Formation

Location: Blekus, Morocco

This is a 1.13" wide, Ordovician-aged starfish of the genus Petraster. It comes from the Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The orange coloration is natural and caused by the oxidation of iron pyrite.

It comes with an acrylic display stand.

Petraster is an extinct genus of early starfish (class Asteroidea) that lived during the Late Ordovician to Late Silurian periods, approximately 460–420 million years ago.

Petraster species typically show a classic five-armed body plan with a relatively small central disc and long, tapering arms. Their well-preserved calcite skeleton highlights early features in asteroid evolution, including details of the ambulacral (arm groove) and extraxial (outer body) ossicles that provide insights into how modern starfish body plans began to differentiate from more primitive echinoderm ancestors.