Orthoceras - Fossilised animal

Beautiful slab with several specimens of Orthoceras from Morocco. These marine animals were among the first living forms to inhabit the planet. Found in the northwestern Sahara.
Orthoceras are extinct cephalopod mollusks, belonging to a group that is now gone. These marine creatures lived in oceans hundreds of millions of years ago, mainly during the Ordovician and Silurian periods. Their name, which in Greek means “straight horn,” refers to the distinctive shape of their elongated conical shell. This shell was divided into chambers, separated by septa, and traversed by a siphon.
The shell of Orthoceras is probably their most distinctive feature. It was composed of aragonite, a mineral that also forms the shells of many current mollusks. Over time, and under the influence of geological processes such as sedimentation and mineralization, these shells fossilized, giving rise to the specimens we admire today.
The fossils of Orthoceras are precious witnesses to marine life of a bygone era. Their study allows scientists to reconstruct ancient ecosystems, understand the evolution of species, and better comprehend the major changes that have marked Earth’s history.