3.55" Iridescent Ammonite (Caloceras) - England

Iridescent Ammonite (Caloceras) - England #206439

This is a 3.55" wide, brilliantly iridescent ammonite (Caloceras johnstoni) fossil from England. It has a naturally iridescent shell showing nice green, orange and red colors. Like most fossils from the Blue Lias Formation, these ammonites have been compressed and flattened by the same geological processes of heating and pressure which gives them their iridescent shell. The rock around the ammonite was polished so as to not detract from the beauty of the shell.

This is a particularly nice specimen with a lot of flash. It is accompanied by an acrylic display stand.

Ammonites were predatory cephalopod mollusks that resembled squids with spiral shells. They are more closely related to living octopuses, though their shells resemble that of nautilus species. True ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago during the Triassic Period. The last lineages disappeared 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous.

What an ammonite would have looked like while alive.

More about ammonites