Unusual, 4.1" Triassic Ammonite (Ceratites) Fossil - Germany

This is an unusual, Middle Triassic ammonite (Ceratites nodosus) from the Muschelkalk Formation in Germany. It's very 3D and has been nicely prepared. It comes with an acrylic display stand.

Ammonites were predatory mollusks that resembled a squid with a shell. These cephalopods had eyes, tentacles and spiral shells. They are more closely related to a living octopus, though the shells resemble that of a nautilus. Ammonites appeared in the fossil record about 240 million years ago and they barely survived several major extinction events. The last lineages disappeared 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous.