A Mysterious Ammonite.

[Fujisawas Sake]

Phil,

Maybe I should compose "squid songs" to spin a much more positive image of our teuthoid buddies...

Okay, maybe not...

BUT... It was a lucky find, and I'm happy for you. Is there any way you can find out more? Any schools nearby with an "ammonitologist"?

Sushi and Sake,

John

 

[Architeuthoceras]

It is a great find Phil, and after looking thru Monks & Palmer it looks like your ID is on the money.

 

[Fujisawas Sake]

Phil (or anyone),

The last question I asked in my topic "Malacology: H.G. Wells Style" was about freshwater cephs, or the lack thereof. Is there any evidence that ammonites were exclusively marine? And is there any evidence that any cephs may have tried to make it to the freshwater? Any ideas on why we don't have freshwater cephs? I mean, I can guess the physiological reasons, but not the evolutionary ones....

Sushi and Sake (And other food for thought)

John

 

[Phil]

As far as I know there is absolutely no evidence for freshwater ammonites. Very few molluscs at all seem to have made the transition to freshwater, and those are bivalves and gastropods.

I've had a search on this and can find no evidence, but if I can find anything to the contrary I will, of course, let you know.

Pity really, who wouldn't like a pet ceph in their village pond?

 

[Fujisawas Sake]

Phil,

My wife thinks it has to do with niches occupied by vertebrate predators. That might be true as well....

 

[Steve O'Shea]

This thread reminded me of a dream I had several months ago - I was looking at freshwater squid in a crystal-clear jungle stream. The squid really looked weird, but they were definitely squid.

Maybe this was a premonition.......

 

[Fujisawas Sake]

Dreaming of cephs?

Any thoughts, Steve? I mean freshwater and all? Are there any species that handle brackish water?

Sushi and Sake,

John

 

[Architeuthoceras]

Not alot of detail in the following reference, but it does infer that they are rethinking ammonoid habitat and including superhaline, subhaline, and even brackish (surface) water environments. Still not fresh, but ammonoids could have been headed up stream until their demise at the end of the Cretaceous.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in ammonoids. It is a costly book, but can be found in most university or larger public libraries. I think I have plugged this book before here on Tonmo, which only shows what an indispensable reference it is.

Also, I have been dreaming of Cephs since I was 16

(Reference)
Westermann G.E.G., 1996. Ammonoid Life and Habitat. IN Landman, Neil H., Kazushige Tanabe, and Richard Arnold Davis, editors. Ammonoid paleobiology. Plenum Press, New York [ISBN: 0-306-45222-7]

 

[Clem]

Hello Phil,

Your overview of Ammonites is excellent. I hadn't known anything about them prior to finding TONMO, and found the posts on the subject to be largely impenetrable (due to my ignorance). Thanks for so ably orienting this novice.

One question inpsired by your text: have ammonite fossils been scanned with CAT/MRI technologies? (There have been some recent, succesful ID's of fossilized soft structures in dinos using these methods.) Has it been tried with fossil cephs?

Clem

 

[Phil]

Hi Clem,

Thanks very much, by the way.

Funnily enough when I was having a scout around for information on ammonite biology on the net the other day I came across a very interesting reference. Unfortunately I cannot find any further details than this and no images that I can link to, but for what it is worth........

At the 1999 Palaeontological Association meeting in Edinborough, three researchers from the UK presented some fascinating images of an ammonite that displayed some of the soft bodied parts still in situ preserved in calcite in the body chamber, this is the first time this has ever been announced. All I can tell you is the ammonite was the Jurassic Sigaloceras and was scanned with CT imaging, X-Ray, UV, SEM and EDAX (whatever that is). Apparantly results were obtained showing the digestive system, muscles and siphuncle. The researchers reconstructed the functional morphology of the ammonite.

Unfortunately, this does not yet seem to have been published, or if it has, it is in the realms of academia and will not filter down to us mortals for years!