Description

Cimomia imperialis
Nautiloid
Early Eocene
London Clay
Isle of Sheppey, England

Very rare 31mm x 52mm Cenozoic nautiloid with the original shell.

Cephalopod.

Cimomia is the largest of the nautiloids known from the London Clay.

Cenozoic nautiloids are not often seen on the market though they are found in many parts of the world.  They managed to survive the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous and diversified in the early Cenozoic before going into decline by the Late Miocene.  Today, only a few species survive in the Indo-Paciifc region and mostly in deeper water.