1.35" Pyritized (Pleuroceras) Ammonite Fossil - Germany

Pyritized (Pleuroceras) Ammonite Fossil - Germany #168274

This is a beautifully pyritized Pleuroceras ammonite fossil collected near Forcheim, Germany. It's Jurassic, Pliensbachian stage or approximately 185 million years old. You can feel the heft of the iron pyrite in the specimen when you hold it in your hand.

Please note that the ammonite has been brushed with a wire brush to give it a more golden brilliant shine. Despite being pyritized their natural color when found is much duller.

Ammonites were predatory cephalopod mollusks that resembled squids with spiral shells. They are more closely related to living octopuses, though their shells resemble that of nautilus species. True ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago during the Triassic Period. The last lineages disappeared 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous.

What an ammonite would have looked like while alive.

More about ammonites