rudhacharya Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Hello, This was found in Ariyalur, India, the deposits are Cretaceous age marine sedimentary deposits. The specimen itself appears to be some sort of branching coral, but I am unable to find any suitable references of collected specimens that look like this. It was found alongside ammonites, sea urchin fossils etc. I am a little puzzled by how "neat" it looks. I'm not looking for a specific identification necessarily, but a general pointer in the right direction would be appreciated. The piece is roughly 6 inches long/ 3-4 inches deep and has lots of interlocking "coral branches". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Welcome to the Forum. This is not a coral, but a piece of an ammonite. The strange shapes are the sutures of the ammonite. 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudhacharya Posted September 7, 2020 Author Share Posted September 7, 2020 Thanks Tim for the welcome and the reply They patterns do look very similar. I guess the reason it didn't strike me is that the piece is fairy large and shows little curvature (as one would expect from an ammonite shell), so it would have to have been a quite large specimen. Would this is very unusual or fairy normal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Ammonites could grow to be very large, so I would say it is fairly normal. 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilshale Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Welcome to the Forum from Shanghai. The largest ammonite I have seen (in the museum) is Parapuzosia seppenradensis. The diameter is 1,74m Thomas 2 Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes (Confucius, 551 BC - 479 BC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 You should also consider that in the Late Cretaceous there was a heteromorphic ammonite, Diplomoceras cylindraceum, which had a long straight shaft as an adult, grew to a very large size (well over a meter), and had a world-wide distribution. So not all ammonites would show curvature. Don 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudhacharya Posted September 7, 2020 Author Share Posted September 7, 2020 Thanks for all the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nautiloid Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Very cool find The sutures have great detail! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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