AN AMMONITE

AN AMMONITE

Coilopoceras springeri

Cretaceous

Baja California, Mexico

Measuring approximately 16 1/2 inches in diameter and resting in three dimensions on its natural matrix base.

Ammonites were a prolific group of marine cephalopods which went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period approximately 65 million years ago. Characterized by complex suture lines and marginal placement of the "siphuncle" (an organelle used to regulate buoyancy), Ammonites were abundant worldwide. The present specimen features a brownish-black coloration, and is accented by a unique suture pattern along its outer shell, diagnostic of this species.