5.7" Ammonite (Stephanoceras & Leioceras) Fossil Cluster - France

Ammonite (Stephanoceras & Leioceras) Fossil Cluster - France #244481

This is a beautiful, 5.7" wide cluster of ammonites from Fresney, France. The largest ammonite (Stephanoceras sp.) measures 2.4" wide and the smoother ammonite along the left side of the specimen (Leioceras opalinum) is 1.35" wide. The small ammonite adjacent to Stephanoceras is unidentified. Most of the rock has been removed from these Jurassic-aged ammonites.

Ammonites were predatory mollusks that resembled a squid with a shell. These cephalopods had eyes, tentacles, and spiral shells. They are more closely related to a living octopus, though the shells resemble that of a nautilus. True ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago. 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