6.4" Fossil Ammonite (Acanthopleuroceras) - France

Fossil Ammonite (Acanthopleuroceras) - France #177615

This is a 6.4" wide fossil ammonite (Acanthopleuroceras) that was collected near Fresney, France. One side of the ammonite has been completely exposed from the rock. The remaining rock around the ammonite has been shaped and cut flat to allow for aesthetic presentation without the need for a display stand.

There is some restoration along one edge, as well as a repaired crack that required some gap fill restoration.

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