Crateraster sp.
(NPL 15910.000)
A well preserved lower-Cretaceous starfish. Collected by Charles Finsley from an exposure of the Del Rio Clay Formation at a site called Waco Pit in McLennan County, Texas.
Part of the Western Interior Seaway assemblage, this animal would have lived like modern starfish. Using tube-feet to navigate the seafloor, it would have patrolled the shallow marine environment for bivalves to eat.
Dimensions (LxWxH): 48.0 mm x 40.0 mm x 4.0 mm (1.9 in x 1.6 in x 0.2 in)
Credits: The model was generated using a NextEngine 3D scanner. This sample was completed by Jaime Hirtz. Funding was provided by ‘Adopt-A-Fossil’, a University of Texas at Austin Hornraiser crowdfunding project. Run by the Non-vertebrate Paleontology Lab at the Jackson School of Geosciences.
Reference: Finsley, C.E. 1999. A Field Guide to Fossils of Texas. Plate 82, (333).
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