ORTHOCERAS eggs 5.5-6cm

Product detailed description

Orthoceras are the fossilized remains of an extinct marine animal from the cephalopod family. They are the ancestors of today's octopus and date back to the Ordovician period of the protohistoric period, nearly 500 million years ago. Orthoceras were among the most advanced of invertebrates, being spineless, with sophisticated nervous systems, eyes and jaws. The word orthoceras means "straight horn" and refers to its shape. They are slender, elongated shells. They could swim and crawl on the ocean floor. When they filled the chambers of their shells with air, they could float on the seas, propelled by the gushing water. They had tentacles and ink sacs like today's octopuses. After they died, their shells accumulated on the seabed, where they were buried by sediment and turned to stone over the ages. These orthoceras were then dug up in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, on the northern edge of the Sahara Desert, which was once long ago below sea level.