Description

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

Large 67mm nautiloid preserved as chalcedony on matrix.

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 endured minor and major extinction events all the way into the Cenozoic Era.  They then rediversified before going into decline by the Late Miocene.  Today, only a few species survive in the Indo-Paciifc region.