Trace fossil borings wood
This wood was swept out to sea, and bored into by sea creatures. The animals responsible are unknown, but their size can be estimated from the hole diameters.
Fossil Finder Database 2022
Fish
Armoured fish Most fish back in the Jurassic period had a bony skeleton and thick enamel scales to protect them from predators.That’s why they are preserved in such a life-like condition. Nearly all modern fish have done away with the armoured scales in favour of speed and agility.
Fish
Some Lower Lias fossils have exceptional detail because the original animals or plants hardly decayed at all. What features of this fish can you see preserved?
Fish
The teeth of this fish crushed the hard-parts of prey, such as bivalve and snail shells. These teeth were owned by a relatively large fish, Lepidotus.
Fish
Crushing teeth and jaws These beautiful and weird structures are the palate of a fish known as Gyrodus meaning ‘turning teeth’. This fish used its round teeth to grind and crush crustaceans and corals, hence the name. We can tell from the shape of the jaws that this fish has a narrow body which gave it…
Fish
The underside of this head is displayed to reveal sharp teeth in powerful jaws, and a few ribs. This predator was a streamlined, fast swimmer. A living descendant of the group of fish that Caturus belongs to can gulp air, and so can live in water containing very little oxygen.
Fish – shark
Like today’s sharks, Hybodus clamped their jaws around their prey and violently shook their heads to slash and kill. Their teeth were not used for chewing; instead their prey were devoured in large chunks.
Plant Cycad
These plant fossils come from the soils in which the Fossil Forest is preserved on Portland. Fern-like leaves once grew from the diamond-shaped scars on the trunk. We have retained the name ‘cycad’ here because it is so popular and commonly used but strictly speaking they belong to a group known as the ‘Bennettitales’, which…
Ammonite
Tools of time This ammonite, Asteroceras obtusum, comes from the Obtusum ammonite zone within the Lower Jurassic Black Ven Marls (now known as the Charmouth Mudstone Formation). Because ammonites evolved rapidly through time, the rocks that contain a particular species must be the same age (unless the fossil has been eroded and re-deposited in a younger…