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Pronounced – Bel-em-nite
Meaning of name – Greek for a thrown dart or Javelin
Group – Cephalopods, Mollusc
Age – Lower Jurassic, around 195 million years old
Belemnites were carnivorous and free swimming squid-like creatures with a long bullet shaped body and a hard internal skeleton called a guard. The guard was positioned towards the tail end of the creature and acted as a counterbalance for the head and arms. This part of the belemnite is what we commonly find on the beach as a fossil. These are some of the most common fossils that we find on the beaches around Charmouth.
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Belemnite buoyancy
Belemnites possessed a cone-shaped set of chambers inside their shell that they could fill with gas or water. Similar to Ammonites, this changed their buoyancy, allowing them to rise or sink in the water. The chambered part of these animals is called the Phragmocone.