Incredible 4.1" Opal Replaced Belemnite Fossil - Australia

Incredible Opal Replaced Belemnite Fossil - Australia #298598

This is truly a museum-quality display specimen! It's an opal replaced belemnite (Peratobelus sp.) fossil mined from the Bulldog Shale at Coober Pedy, Australia. The belemnite measures 4.1" long, and is nicely centered on a 5.9 x 4" chunk of soft clay stone. The belemnite fossil is replaced by gem quality opal and has been exposed from the stone in which it was found. The opal exhibits a mesmerizing blue and green opalescence and a vibrant white-blue fluorescence under shortwave ultraviolet light. This belemnite fossil is Early Cretaceous in age, or approximately 120 million years old.

Coober Pedy is a famous opal mining town in South Australia and the mines have occasionally produced opal replaced fossils in the past. The mines are no longer active as the extraction of opal is no longer economical, so these fossils are becoming extremely rare.

Belemnites are probably the most well known extinct cephalopod after the ammonites. They lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and are fairly common fossils found throughout the world. They had a hard, internal, cone-shaped structure that is often preserved as a fossil, though it is not technically a shell. They had ten arms but, unlike modern squid, these arms had small hooks instead of suckers.

Please note, Australia has strict fossil export laws. This specimen was exported legally with all of the required permits.