#sphooceras

[252mya]

Sphooceras

Artwork by Franz Anthony / @franzanth

Shelled cephalopods are born small then grow a bigger house while keeping their baby crib intact — but adult Sphooceras cut off its baby coils. This 410 million years old fossil had Nautilus-like stripes, which helped it hide from predators.

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252MYA creates custom-made artwork for private collections and editorial, scientific, or educational project.

[franzanth]

Sphooceras is the coolest cephalopod you've never heard of

Coiled snails and cephalopods are born small, then they keep adding new material to renovate a bigger house while keeping their baby crib intact. Multiple Sphooceras fossils found to represent different stages of its life suggest that in adulthood, Sphooceras actually lost its baby coils!

The smoothness of its shell resembles that of today's cowrie shells, which sometimes can extend the soft parts of their body (mantle) to cover the entire shell to polish it. Some paleontologists think Sphooceras' mantle might have polished its shell in the same way, breaking down the baby shells and patching up the holes.

Interestingly, for a shell that's over 410 million-years-old, some of its fossils preserve traces of coloration. It's suggested that they had stripes similar to today's Nautilus, which helps to disguise themselves from predator.

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WIPs and ramblings are available on Patreon