Description

Aturia angustata

Miocene

Lincoln Creek Formation

Grays Harbor County, Washington USA.

38mm nautiloid preserved in 103mm concretion.

Cephalopod.

Aturia is a nautiloid genus known from the Paleocene to Miocene of various sites worldwide.

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.