Fossil Ammonite with Ammolite Shell: Placenticeras sp.

THE SCIENCE

Ammonites are an extinct group of marine animals similar to the nautilus. Like the nautilus, ammonites had a soft body with tentacles that emerged from a hollow chambered shell which they used in the manner of a submarine's ballast tanks. Ammonite fossils are often identified by their shell ornamentation and the structures of the wall that divide the shell's chambers.

THE STORY

This fossil ammonite is an excellent, hand-picked specimen of the Placenticeras species from North America. Ammonites went extinct along with the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, and very few, such as this one, fossilized with this stunning ammolite mineral flash. Ammolite was only recently given its official gemstone status in 1981 and shines all colors of the rainbow, but primarily in reds and greens. 

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