Cephalopod - Fossilised shell - Orthoceras - 16.7 cm - 4 cm (No Reserve Price)

This lot offers a magnificent specimen of Orthoceras of a good size, "standard size gentlemen".
Completely natural and semi-polished, it is a type of piece that is less common in collections and does not go unnoticed.
Beautiful mineral pattern and drawing throughout the shell, internal mold.
At the ends, the central synphuncle can be seen, which in cephalopods has two main functions: expelling water at high pressure, allowing the animal to move quickly to hunt or escape, and the expulsion of ink as a defense mechanism.
The segments that can be clearly seen were the chambers that filled or emptied with water, thus controlling buoyancy, now filled with calcite crystals.
There are large concentrations of these fossils in Erfoud in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
When they died, probably in large numbers during mating cycles, their shells accumulated on the seabed, where they were swept away by currents until they settled.