Orthoceras - Fossilised animal - 31 cm - 22 cm (No reserve price)

Beautiful slab with several specimens of Orthoceras from Morocco. These marine animals were among the first living forms to inhabit the planet. Discovered in the northwestern Sahara.

Orthoceras are extinct cephalopod mollusks, belonging to a group that has disappeared. These marine creatures lived in the 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 conical and elongated shape of their shell. This shell was divided into chambers, separated by septa, and traversed by a siphon.

The Orthoceras shell is probably their most distinctive feature. It was made of aragonite, a mineral that also forms the shells of many present-day 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.

Orthoceras fossils are precious witnesses to marine life of a bygone era. Studying them allows scientists to reconstruct ancient ecosystems, understand the evolution of species, and better understand the major changes that have shaped Earth's history.