Extinct marine cephalopod shell fossil (specimen identity unresolved)

Ammonite scan

This is a three-dimensional scan of an ammonite fossil shell, not a living-animal reconstruction with soft parts.

Look at the coiled shell winding round and round. Does it look like a stone rope rolled into a spiral?

Explore it in the 3D museum →
Ammonite scan

Meet this animal

When it lived
Devonian to end-Cretaceous (group range; this scan has no supplied age)
Fossil discovery regions
ancient marine rocks worldwide (this scan has no supplied locality)
Size
0.01–2 metres · Shell diameter varied greatly among species and growth stages; the model’s 0.40-metre display size is not a specimen measurement.
Diet
Not yet known
Classification
Extinct marine cephalopod shell fossil (specimen identity unresolved)

Ammonites were extinct marine cephalopod molluscs. As they grew, they added new shell chambers, while the sealed older chambers helped control buoyancy. Hard shells are common fossils but ammonite soft parts are exceptionally rare. This source supplies only a fossil-shell scan, so the display does not invent arms, eyes or other soft anatomy.

Prehistoric Animal Museum · 史前动物博物馆