Fossil Bryozoans
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 3,500 fossil bryozoans. Bryozoans, also known as sea mats or polyzoans, are small marine animals that live in colonies, for the most part in the sea. The colonies are formed by small animals known as zooids which secrete protective covers or ‘skeletons’ that can exist in many different shapes. They can be chains, fan-shaped, or branching like twigs, and are often found encrusted on hard surfaces. This collection contains fossils that are mostly from the Carboniferous Period of central Scotland. Nearly all the material is from the collection of John Young, who did much pioneering work on this group and published several papers on Carboniferous bryozoa. His specimens are beautifully prepared and include delicate specimens extracted from rock and mounted on slides and microscope sections. There are also small numbers of bryozoans of other geological periods, including Ordovician specimens from the Pentland Hills and from the Girvan area of Scotland, and English Jurassic examples.
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