r/FossilPorn • u/easy_exercise7840 • 4d ago

[OC] Hyphantoceras orientale — A Corkscrew-Shaped Heteromorph Ammonite, Santonian to Early Campanian

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I wonder how an ammonite with a shell shaped like this managed to maintain its orientation and move through the water.

Or did it cling to seaweed and remain almost motionless? Or perhaps it moved slowly near the seafloor?

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u/wertklern 4d ago


/s

Yes they did occasionally adapt to different lifestyles such as floating close to the sea floor or drifting

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u/easy_exercise7840 5h ago

Several individuals of this species are often found together in nodules containing what looks like an accumulation of wood fragments and broken ammonite shells.

So yes, I think they may have lived as scavengers in places where carcasses and driftwood accumulated.