5" Triassic Ammonite (Ceratites) With Shellfish - Germany

Triassic Ammonite (Ceratites) With Shellfish - Germany #94089

This is an unusual, Middle Triassic ammonite (Ceratites sublaevigatus) from the Muschelkalk Formation in Germany. It's very 3D and has been nicely prepared in the rock that it was found in. The base of the rock has been cut flat to allow for aesthetic presentation of the ammonite.

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