Foraminifers
Foraminifers are chambered single cell organism with a chalk skeleton. The subphylum Foraminifera belongs to the empire of Prostista. The popular name for foraminifers is forams.
There are large foraminifers, which can be seen with the naked eye, and small foraminifers. The large foraminifers live on the bottom of the sea, and the small ones are planctonic. The chambers are distributed like a spiral and connected through pores. The pores and the size is different than in ammonites  , although the shape is similar.
Foraminifers are used in geological research to reconstruct the environment and climate in past geologic periods. The foraminifers occur in sediments from the Cambrian period until recent. Because of their fast evolution, many foraminifers are used as guide fossils .
Example of a Large foraminifer from the Spanish Pyrenees.
 Click here for information where to find these fossils.
 Go to the Photo page to view photographs of Foraminifers. |
