Giant Ammonite Shell

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Ammonoids represent an extinct marine mollusc lineage that boasts a surprising connection to modern coleoids (squid and cuttlefish). In fact, these ancient creatures are more closely related to their living counterparts than to nautiloids. Ammonites serve as excellent index fossils, which geologists frequently rely on for biostratigraphy purposes. The earliest ammonite appearances date back to the Devonian period, approximately 400 million years ago. They continued to thrive until a massive extinction event in the Cretaceous-Paleogene period, roughly 66 million years ago. Despite the widespread presence of fossilized shells within old sedimentary rocks, scientists remain largely unaware of the creature that once inhabited these ammonite shells. Researchers struggle to determine the exact number of tentacles and shape of the soft body that these creatures possessed. During the fossilization process, the shell is well-preserved, whereas the soft body would have degraded, leaving behind little evidence for scientists to study.