the.com/ammonite
a sea-monster spiral that ruled oceans for 300 million years, then died with the dinosaurs
means An extinct marine mollusk with a coiled, chambered shell, known today chiefly from its abundant spiral fossils.
from Named for the Egyptian god Amun (Latin Ammon), often depicted with curling ram's horns — the coiled shells reminded early naturalists of those horns. Medieval scholars called them cornua Ammonis, 'horns of Ammon,' and Latin gave us the modern 'ammonite' in the late 18th century. The same horned-god image survives in 'ammonia,' a salt once gathered near a temple of Ammon.
- Named after
- Egyptian god Ammon's coiled ram horns
- Living relative
- the nautilus, their distant surviving cousin
- Size range
- from a coin to over two meters
- Buoyancy trick
- gas-filled chambers let them hover like submarines
- Folklore
- medieval England called them coiled snakestones
cleoniceras cleon — cretaceous ammonite specimen from madagascar, 100 million years old, up to 60cm diameter
dactylioceras commune — jurassic ammonite from dorset coast england, extensively studied for mass extinction events 180 million years ago
parapuzosia seppenradensis — largest known ammonite species, cretaceous period, specimens reached over 2 meters diameter in germany