iridescent ammonite Gastroplites Canada Arctic fossil
Ammonites were early molluscs These marine animals had no vertebrae and were protected by a hard shell usually coiled made from calcium Fast moving predators they ate other animals in the sea They were cephalopods Ammonites were protected by a shell usually spiral coiled that contained many air filled chambers called phragmocones the animal lived only in the outer chamber The opening of the shell is called the aperture The walls of each chamber are called septa these walls were penetrated by a ventral tubelike structure called a siphuncle that probably regulated the air pressure allowing the ammonite to float Ammonites ranged in size from under an inch to about 9 feet 3 m in diameter Ammonites appeared during the Devonian and went extinct during the K T extinction 65 million years ago The closest living relative of the ammonite is the chambered nautilus Ammonites were named for Amun also spelled Ammon an ancient Egyptian god who is pictured as having ram s horns behind each ear which look like ammonites Ammonite fossils are found in great quantities and are used as an index fossil Index fossils are commonly found fossils that are limited in time span They help in dating other fossils Ammonites were common during the Mesozoic Era but are not found after the Cretaceous period when they went extinct This knowledge and knowledge of when particular species of ammonites lived helps date rarer fossils of unknown age For example if a new fossil is found in the same rock layer as an ammonite that is known to have lived only during the Cretaceous period the new fossil can likely be dated to that same period
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Photo credit: © Scenics & Science / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: ammonite, arctic, canada, evolution, fossil, gastroplites, iridescent, irridescence, palaeontology
