2.3" Translucent Ammonite (Asteroceras) Fossil - Dorset, England

Translucent Ammonite (Asteroceras) Fossil - Dorset, England #171267

This is a beautifully prepared, 2.3" wide Asteroceras obtusum ammonite fossil from the Lyme Regis region of England. Most of the shell is preserved as a translucent, yellow calcite. During preparation the rock has been removed from behind the ammonite so that it can be back-lit with a light source causing it to glow. The surrounding limestone has been aesthetically sculpted into it's own display base.

Ammonites were predatory cephalopod mollusks that resembled squids with spiral shells. They are more closely related to living octopuses, though their shells resemble that of nautilus species. True ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago during the Triassic Period. 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