Halimeda San Salvador

This is a modern calcareous alga, Halimeda. The white plates are
composed of calcium carbonate secreted within the algal tissues.
Halimeda is a major sediment producer today in the Caribbean region;
this specimen is from San Salvador Island, The Bahamas. Calcareous
algae of the Paleozoic produced plates up to about ten times as large
as those of Halimeda. The Paleozoic algae produced a great deal of
calcareous sediment, as well as the reef-like algal mounds. The size
difference alone suggests they occupied a somewhat different
ecological niche than that of Halimeda.

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