HUGE GONIATITE - Sahara Desert, Morocco

  DEVONIAN PERIOD:  395 - 345 million years ago

Whether you are a serious collector of the finest quality ammonites or looking for a show-stopping and massive choice specimen for display, this is THE fossil for you.  A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity recently just came our way.  We were fortunate to be able to acquire a very small lot of these super rare goniatites all in a size that is almost impossible to find and in a 100% natural state of unheard of preservation and quality!!!  

Sporting a VERY RARE RED hue, this is one super grade and MASSIVE fossil specimen!  Nearly every chamber is complete and fully preserved in white calcite.  The chamber detail is exquisite.  Most unique to this example is the bright red NATURAL color to the stone where the white calcite meets.  The color and contrast of this fossil would be considered rare in ANY size but as these features are existent in such a giant goniatite, we cannot recommend this one enough!  This massive fossil is a 100% authentic and natural specimen.  

AMMONOIDS evolved from nautiloids in the early Devonian period, about 400 million years ago. They were abundant in world seas for the next 370 million years. They suddenly vanished at the end of the Cretaceous period. These extinct marine animals, which thrived in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic Eras, some 400 to 65 million years ago, were cephalopods, and are thus related to squid, octopus, cuttlefish, and the chambered nautilus.  Ammonites were able to swim, thanks to the unique construction of their shell, which was divided into a series of air chambers. The air in the chambers provided buoyancy for the animal to float; like modern cephalopods, they probably moved through the water using jet propulsion.  Because ammonites lived exclusively in marine environments, their presence also indicates the location of prehistoric seas.

The animal that lived in this fossil shell looked something like a squid or an octopus, with tentacles for grasping its food and moving around the ocean floor. Some ammonite species have been found up to 6 feet across in size, while others never got bigger than a dime.  

This is amongst the finest quality and rarest size goniatite that can be had.  It is a completely natural specimen that has only been polished to better view the stunning display of chambers and color.

CHOICE AND MASSIVE SPECIMEN WITH VERY RARE RED HUE!  

12.25" wide  x  10" high x 2.5" thick

SOLD    AM16008     Actual Item - One Only     INCLUDES STAND

1395