Iridescent Ammonite - Cleoniceras 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 Cleoniceras species from Madagascar. Ammonites went extinct along with the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, and their fossils were collected by ancient man as well as modern. They are named after the Egyptian god Amun, whose ram horns they were thought to resemble.