The 71st plate from German biologist Ernst Haeckel’s Kunstformen der Natur, showing radiolarians of the order Stephoidea. Radiolarians form intricate mineral skeletons, usually with a central capsule dividing the cell into inner and outer portions. Radiolarians are found as zooplankton throughout the ocean and are important diagnostic fossils, found from the Cambrian period onwards.
Image credit: Ernst Haeckel
WIKI POD
Damn beautiful.
The second from the bottom on the very left looks like a kings crown
@... nyoki
You always have sweet scientific posts.
Diagnostic fossils? Like the coelacanth is a diagnostic fossil? Just wondering…
I love the way fractal geometry pans out. There’s something aesthetically pleasing about the complexity of very small things.
Feed Flash Gordon to the RADIOLARIANS!
@... DCR
They have a rapid turn-over rate which means they can be used to age other fossils found in the same strata as well as the strata itself.