6.8" Silver Iridescent Ammonite (Cleoniceras) Fossil - Madagascar

Silver Iridescent Ammonite (Cleoniceras) Fossil - Madagascar #219581

Here's a beautiful silver iridescent ammonite fossil quarried near Mahajanga Province, Madagascar. It is of the genus Cleoniceras which inhabited the shallow seas approximately 110 million years ago. If you catch it in the right light or particularly if it is wet, the fossil shines with a brilliant iridescence. It comes with an acrylic display stand.

Ammonites were predatory mollusks that resembled squids with shells. These cephalopods had eyes, tentacles, and spiral shells. Though their shells resemble that of a nautilus, they are actually more closely related to living octopuses. Ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago, barely surviving several major extinction events. The last lineages disappeared 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous.

Artist's reconstruction of an ammonite, by Nobu Tamura

More about ammonites