INCREDIBLE PRESERVED COMPLETE INNER CHAMBER DETAIL SEEN ABOVE AND IN PHOTOS BELOW

PHOTO ABOVE SHOWS INCREDIBLE EVIDENCE OF OTHER FOSSILIZED SEA LIFE THAT ATTACHED TO THIS AMMONITE AFTER IT DIED AND SANK TO THE BOTTOM OF THE JURASSIC SEA.  THE VERY CENTER SHOWS A FOSSILIZED MOLLUSK AND FOSSIL SEA WORM BURROWS ARE STILL PRESERVED AROUND THIS BIVALVE FOSSIL

RARE FINEST THREE DIMENSIONAL PRESERVATION RED BROWN LYTOCERAS AMMONITE FROM FRANCE

France

JURASSIC PERIOD (TOARCIAN):  184 - 175 million years ago

With immense natural aesthetics, this is a very high grade and RARE red brown Lytoceras jurense ammonite from France.  There are other sea life fossil remains also attached to this ammonite - creatures that lived during the same period.  There is a mollusk shell that affixed itself to the center of this ammonite after it died.  This bivalve then subsequently died and became part of this ammonite fossil.  There are also preserved fossil sea worm burrows evident around the center, as well. 

Ammonites like these are not commercially mined so their scarcity is not only due to true rarity but also to the lack of any large scale efforts compared to mass-marketed and produced ammonites from Russia, Madagascar and Morocco.  Beautiful three-dimensional FULL undistorted inflation and form with stunning, finely detailed perfectly preserved inner chamber detail with the oak leaf pattern design in the surface.  NO RESTORATION OR CARVING of any detail.  From an old European collection, this is a splendid and uncommonly large example of this artistically delicate species.  A large and genuine French ammonite for an unforgettable display of natural art and prehistoric beauty.

Ammonites are extinct members of the Cephalopod class.  Modern members include nautilus, squid and octopus.  They first appeared during the Silurian Period (435 million to 410 million years ago) and were abundant and widespread in the seas of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (175 million to 65 million years ago).  Ammonites are important index fossils—that is, they often link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods.

Ammonites varied greatly in size.  The largest known as small as 2 cm (0.75 in) in diameter.  During the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, ammonites evolved more streamlined shells for swimming and the structure of the shell became stronger.  Different shell shapes emerged as well, such as snail-like or uncoiled.   

The shells of ammonites had hollow chambers separated by walls called septa.  A tube called the siphuncle, connected the body with the chambers allowing the animal to fill them with water or air, changing its buoyancy in order to  rise or drop in the ocean.  Only the last and largest chamber was occupied by the living animal.  

Ammonites probably lived for one to six years, with the majority living two to four years.  They fed on plankton (tiny free-floating organisms), sea lilies, and smaller orthoceras.  Although many fed off the ocean floor, others may have caught plankton while floating or swimming via jet propulsion, expelling water through a funnel-like opening to propel themselves in the opposite direction.

Because ammonites lived exclusively in marine environments, their presence also indicates the location of prehistoric seas.

RARE SUPERBLY MINERALIZED HEAVY RED-BROWN SPECIMEN IN FULL 3D FORM WITH FINEST DETAIL INNER CHAMBERS!

7" across x 2.4" thick at opening

SOLD     AMX-143     INCLUDES STAND     Actual Item - One Only

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