Siphonophyllia

Lower Carboniferous, Glencar Limestone Formation

Streedagh Point, Co. Sligo

field of view about 1.5 metres across

These large solitary corals are common in the Carboniferous Limestone. They consist of large unbranched, but often curved, cylinders up to about 10 cm across and occasionally up to a metre long. One site on the Sligo coast is known as Serpent Rock, in reference to their supposed similarity in appearance to snakes. The specimens here are also on the Sligo coast at Streedagh Point, where they often cover the limestone beds exposed there. Both Streedagh Piont and Serpent Rock are Irish Geological Heritage sites and the fossils should not be hammered (the hammer in this picture is purely for scale).