Description

Aturia angustata
Miocene
Lincoln Creek Formation
Grays Harbor County, Washington USA.

Aturia is a nautiloid genus known from the Paleocene to Miocene of various sites worldwide. In general, all Cenozoic nautiloid fossils are rare, but this one is absolutely the most spectacular one we have ever seen. EIGHT complete nautiloids, many with shell and even nacre cover this 135mm concretion. World class.

Back in the Ordovician Period, nautiloids ascended to the level of apex predator and survived serious competition from various jawed fish groups during the Devonian.  They escaped mass extinction events all the way into the Cenozoic Era.  They rediversified before going into decline by the Late Miocene.  Today, only a few species survive in the Indo-Paciifc region.