This week I'm giving the stage to a fossil I'm really hoping to one day have in my collection, and probably one of the weirdest Ammonites to ever coil itself into existence: Nipponites.
If most ammonites look like tidy spirals, Nipponites looks like an Ammonite was growing and just thought “nevermind” halfway through and decided to try and tie itself in knots instead. These wonderfully tangled fossils come from Late Cretaceous rocks in Japan (hence the name from the Japanese for Japan — Nippon), and they’re some of the most unusual cephalopods you’ll ever see.
Rather than forming a neat coil, the shell loops and twists back and forth in all directions, creating a shape that looks a bit like what happens when a Slinky goes wrong, and you throw it back into the toy box (or on the shelf, if you still enjoy them as an adult ) rather than trying to untangle it! Nipponites it seems evolved this bizarre shell shape on purpose, and it worked well enough for the species to survive for millions of years!
I’ve sketched a Nipponites (Yes, the singular of Nipponites is Nipponites ) this week to show off that chaotic coil pattern. It’s a super intriguing contrast to the classic ammonites you usually see, and more proof that ancient life was definitely experimental!
There has been some scientific debate about exactly how to classify Nipponites, whether it actually deserves its own distinct genus, or whether it’s just part of a broader group of heteromorph ammonites (yup, there's a whole bunch of odd shaped Ammonites, and I'll likely feature some more down the line). But one thing I think everyone can agree on is that it's absolutely fascinating!
Fun fact: Nipponites’ odd shell shape didn’t hinder it, research suggests the twisting coils would have actually helped it stabilise in the water, allowing it to drift and rotate gently while using its tentacles to feed. Ancient life was deffo weird.. And cool!
