Astrocoenia lobatorotundata, a colonial fossil coral with 8 walls. The 1st picture displays one fossil from Calders (Bages) that is stored in the Museum of Geology Valentí Masachs, the 2nd picture displays one fossil from Moià.
Corals are marine, often colonial animals provided with a calcium carbonate skeleton. They can make reefs in warm and deep seas. The barrier reefs that are found from northeast to southwest in the district of Bages proof the tropical climate that Catalunya experienced in the Eocene period. The coral reefs of Bages (Calders, Navarcles, Manresa ,…) contain a fossil wildlife that relates to the present one in tropical seas.
[photos Joaquim Sanz / Museum of Geology Valentí Masachs (1st) and Jordi Badia (2nd)]