Beautiful 2.63 Inch Polished Ammonite - Very Thick

Beautiful Inch Polished Ammonite - Very Thick #631

Here is a beautiful polished ammonite fossil from the Cretaceous of Madagascar showing a beautiful "oak leaf" suture pattern. Out of the dozens of cut and polished ammonites I received this one stands apart due to how thick it is (more than 1 inch). I'm not sure whether this is due to it being a different species than the typical Cleoniceras or simply different preservation. Either way it's a beautiful specimen.

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