Description
Orthoceras Fossil Standing Display Piece (ORTHS02)Measurements at Maximum:Height 200mm / 20cm x Width 74mm / 7.4cm x Depth 67mm / 6.7cmWeight: 1,140 GramsPhotographs are of the exact item you will receiveOrthoceras ("straight horn") is a genus of extinct cephalopod. Ancestors to the modern day squid, Orthoceras are dated to the lower Ordovician to Triassic ages (500 to 190 million years ago). Orthoceras ranged in size from a few inches in length to over six feet. They could swim as well as crawl on the ocean floor. By filling the chambers in their shells with air they could float through the seas propelling themselves by squirting jets of water. As they died their shells accumulated upon the ocean floor, then covered by sediments they transformed into stone over the ages. Our Orthoceras specimens are from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, and are dated back to the Silurian Age 400 + million years ago.