This week’s fossil takes us back to way before the dinosaurs, over 400 million years ago, to meet the long, shelly cephalopod known as Orthoceras.
If you’ve ever seen a black stone with a smooth, pointed fossil shape running through it, you’ve likely spotted one already. These ancient marine creatures are relatives of modern squids and octopuses, but with a long, conical shell that makes them look more like underwater darts. Party hat anyone??
Orthoceras lived during the Ordovician period, when most of life was still ocean-based and pretty weird looking. They were squid-like hunters, jetting through the water, grabbing smaller prey with tentacled arms and a sharp beak. Very elegant, and very deadly (if you were a trilobite, anyway).
I’ve sketched up an interpretation of what one might’ve looked like in its prime - cone-shaped shell, tentacles peeking out, ever watching eye. Picture a long pointy squid zooming around like a guided torpedo.
The fossils we usually find are the shells, often beautifully preserved in black marble, where the internal chambers are still visible. These chambers helped control buoyancy, like other Nautiloids and Ammonites. The ones we have in stock (both in-store and available tonight on our website) show off that classic cone shape in sharp contrast against the polished stone.
Fun fact: The name Orthoceras means “straight horn,” referring to the shape of the shell. It’s a good reminder that not all ancient cephalopods spiralled, and some just went full javelin mode!
