Orthoceras Fossil

Curious Minds Did You Know? The oldest fossils ever found are Stromatolites – preserved microorganisms sandwiched between layers of sediment that are 3.4 billion years old!

Orthoceras fossils are around 395 million years old, found in Morocco and are the fossilised remains of a nautiloid cephalopod. Squids are a living form of Cephalopods. These fossils are found all around the world and usually deposited in limestone rocks.

Orthoceras was an early relative of the Ammonite and a member of the Nautiloid family. These straight shelled Nautiloids ranged in size from less than a centimetre to more than four metres long! Later varieties became coiled for buoyancy unlike the straight shell of the Orthoceras which sunk more easily.