6.25" Polished, Ammonite (Euhoploceras) Fossil - Dorset, England

Polished, Ammonite (Euhoploceras) Fossil - Dorset, England #176351

This is a 6.25" wide, polished ammonite (Euhoploceras modestum) fossil from Clatcombe, England. It is Lower Jurassic in age, or approximately 180 million years old. The base of the rock has been cut flat so that it stands up nicely without the need for a display stand.

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