1998/01/01 by Neale Monks, J. R. Young · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · #Cephalopods and Marine Biology #Marine Biology and Environmental Chemistry #Marine and coastal plant biology
paper · pdf · doi:10.26879/98001
openalex publication_date 1998/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
Previous analyses of ammonite functional morphology have assumed that the animal filled the entire body chamber, and that movement of the animal (such as withdrawal of the head and arms into the shell) had little effect on orientation. An alternative anatomy is proposed here: the ammonite animal was small, mobile, and capable of moving away from the aperture when threatened. The effect of this anatomy on the hydrostatics of aspinoconic, ancycloconic, and hamiticonic heteromorph ammonites is analysed. This analysis suggests that movement of the body would significantly alter the distribution of mass and hence orientation.