Fossil Finder Database 2022

Squid

This squid is well-preserved in a limestone nodule. When phragmoteuthids like this retain the fossilised ink sac, the ink can be ground up, mixed with water and then used to write or draw with!

Bivalve shell

This bivalve (scallop) is beautifully-preserved as a cast in flint. The two valves (the two shells) are together as they would have been when the creature was alive, and the detail is excellent. The occasional, stronger growth lines may be annual lines (modern scallops have them too), making this shell five years old when it…

Ammonite

This is an unusual preservation, with the centre of the ammonite missing. Ammonites have a spiral shell divided into chambers. They could control their buoyancy in the water by filling the chambers with gas and water. The soft body of the ammonite only took up the last half whorl of the shell. Only the shells of…

Brittle Star

This brittle star had been exposed for some time before it was discovered, as it is fairly worn. Before fossilisation, the arms were swept in one direction by water currents.

Ammonite

This large ammonite has graced the main stairwell of Lyme Regis Museum for many years. It has kindly been loaned to the museum by Old Forge Fossils of Broad Street.

Ammonite

Mantelliceras is named after the well-known fossil hunter Gideon Mantell. This specimen is incomplete, but shows the well-preserved strong ribbing characteristic of this species.

Ammonite

Male and female? This specimen has been broken and restored, and its missing centre has been replaced with a small specimen of the same type of ammonite. But it is still quite beautiful and unusually large. This was probably a female ammonite, bigger than the males of the species as extra room was needed to…