| Here's a series of conodonts dissolved out of the upper Ordovician to lower Silurian Ely Springs Dolomite, as exposed in the vicinity of Mazourka Canyon, Inyo County, California; the specimens are greatly magnified--over 30 times. Although they appear to superficially resemble teeth or jaws, conodonts are minute calcium phosphate structures--unrelated to modern animal dentition and jaws--that served as a food-gathering apparatus in an extinct lamprey eel-like organism. Photograph taken from a specific scientific document. |