Goniatities - Macro Goniatities
Goniatites
Goniatites are an extinct group of ammonite related to the nautiloids. They lived early in the Devonian period 400 million years ago and became extinct during the Permian period.
The goniatites are classified as ammonoids, an extinct group that includes the ammonites. The ammonoids are part of a larger group - cephalopods, which includes belemnites and nautiloids. The cephalopods are part of a larger group of animals called the molluscs (phylum mollusca), which also includes gastropods and bivalves.
All goniatites had an external shell which is divided internally into chambers. The animal lived in the largest of the external chambers, and the internal chambers would have been filled with gas making the animal buoyant in the water. The general structure of the goniatites would have been similar to that of their relatives the ammonites, being a free swimming animal possessing a head with two well developed eyes and tentacles. Goniatites are small to medium in size, often being less than 15 centimetres in diameter (6 inches). The shell is always coiled, unlike that of the later ammonites of the Mesozoic era, some of which evolved into partially coiled or completely uncoiled forms called heteromorph. The shape of most goniatite shells suggests that they were poor swimmers.
Check out our Macro Goniatites that reach 40 centimetres (15 inches)!!
Big Goniatite
