{"product_id":"cyclolite-corallite-fossilized-specimen","title":"Cyclolite (Corallite) Fossilized Coral Specimen - Iminlago, High Atlas Mountains, Morocco","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis listing is for one, sold as seen, unique Cyclolite (Pseudocunnolite) specimen with an approx. 4cms diameter, weighing 6g.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the Cretaceous period (100–145 million years ago), the Iminlago site in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains was a warm, shallow sea where unattached Cyclolites (Pseudocunnolites) corals lived freely on loose sediment. These unique, button-shaped corals functioned like tiny, self-contained islands. By day, they retracted inside their hard calcium carbonate cups (corallites), and at night, they extended stinging tentacles to feed on plankton. They relied on a symbiotic relationship with microscopic algae (zooxanthellae) that fed them from within using sunlight. To survive on the muddy seafloor, they used microscopic, hair-like cilia to pump a protective layer of mucus outward, sliding threatening silt off their domed skeletons. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost Cyclolites fossils found today were buried alive by intense prehistoric tropical storms. These events churned up massive clouds of mud and sand, overturning and suffocating the corals faster than they could clear the debris. The entire species was ultimately wiped out 66 million years ago during the Chicxulub asteroid impact. The resulting global dust cloud blocked out the sun, collapsed marine photosynthesis, and drove up to 98% of shallow-water tropical corals to extinction, and the unattached Cyclolites discs were completely wiped from the Moroccan marine platforms, leaving only their rock-hard fossilized skeletons embedded in the Atlas Mountains today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis fossil offers a rare, rock-hard glimpse into a lost prehistoric marine ecosystem.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"All About The Box","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52545472725266,"sku":null,"price":10.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0081\/4442\/0975\/files\/PXL_20260807_114040461.jpg?v=1786635331","url":"https:\/\/www.allaboutthebox.co.uk\/products\/cyclolite-corallite-fossilized-specimen","provider":"All About The Box","version":"1.0","type":"link"}