Thursday, September 23, 2010

Jurassic Period Acanthoteuthis


This squid fossil found in Germany lived in the late Jurassic Period (145-140 million years ago).  The prominent cephalopod in the Mesozoic Era were the ammonites but today squids dominate the seas.  This fossil has been identified as an Acanthoteuthis sp.  It is displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. (August 2010).