Cameroceras trentonense

Cameroceras is a genus of extinct, giant orthoconic cephalopod that lived mainly during the Ordovician period. It first appears during the middle Ordovician, around 470 million years ago, and was a fairly common component of the fauna in some places during the period, inhabiting the shallow seas of Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia. Its diversity and abundance became severely reduced following the Ordovician–Silurian extinction events, and the last remnants of the genus went extinct sometime during the Wenlock.

Cameroceras is a cephalopod, a taxon of molluscs that includes the octopuses, squids and cuttlefish. From comparison with living cephalopods, particularly the shelled chambered nautilus, some inferences about the biology of Cameroceras can be made. The head of the animal would have been soft muscular tissue situated at the opening of the hard cone-like shell, with the mantle (main body) lying within the shell for protection. Tentacles would have grown from the base of the head like in a modern nautilus, and these tentacles would have been used to seize and manipulate prey. At the base of these tentacles within the buccal mass (analogous to the mouth) a hard keratinous beak would have bitten into the bodies of its prey, and is assumed to have been strong enough to breach the prey's exoskeleton or shell. Within the beaks of modern cephalopods a radula, or 'toothed' tongue is used to rasp out soft tissue from within the prey's shell. Size The partial shell of one giant Cameroceras yielded a total length estimated at the time at nearly 9 m (30 feet). This estimate has since been revised downward quite a bit; Frey (1995) gives a length of up to 6 m (20 feet). Regardless of this estimate's degree of accuracy, this gargantuan cephalopod is thought to be among the largest known Paleozoic molluscs.

First:
Hundreds of million of years ago, long before the dinosaurs ruled the Earth, all living creatures on the planet swam in the oceans. During the Ordovician Period, the giant orthocone came on the seene and ruled the seas. This shelled, squid squid-like creature hunted and killed prey with a combination of jet propulsion, strong tentacles and a pointed beak.

Super Squid:
The flesy front part of the giant orthocone;s bdy was like that of a modern squid. The ancient predator grabbed prey with three-foot tentacles and crushed victims with a hard beak hidden behind them.

Move Along:
This creature lacked flippers or fins to propel it through water, but did have a hollow tube that came out of its shell, just under its head. The orthocone could point this in any direction and squirt out a jet of water to push it backward or forward.

Creature Features

 * Genus/Species: Cameroceras/various
 * Size: Lengh up to 36 ft.
 * Prey: Trilobites, sea scorpions, fish and other sea creatures
 * Where? Fossils have been found in North America
 * Sound Off: OR-thoe-cone

Chief Cone
The most amazing feature of the giant orthocone was its long body, which was made up mostly of its cone-shaped shell. The creature's organs were in the front of the shell, crammed just behind its 'head.' Body and shell combined, this ancient cephalopod grew to lengths up to 36 feet, making dominant predator of te sseas. The giant orthocone is still one of the largest cephalopods ever known, though shorter than the elusive giant squid.

Did You Know?
The name 'orthocone' means 'straight and slender,' referring to this creature's long shell.

Ups & Down:
Fossils show that the giant orthocone's shell was mostly hollow and contained several chambers. The creature controlled its depth by letting water in and out of these chambers, much like the chambered nautilus does.

Star Wars:
Experts aren't sure why many creatures went extinct about 440 million years ago, but some think the explosion of a star might have been the culprit. A burst of gamma radiation from the explosion hit Earth, which dissolved the ozone layer and fried most life on the planet.

Timeline:
The giant orthocone lived 470 to 440 million years ago, during the Ordovician Period.

Last:
Cameroceras is a genus of extinct, giant orthoconic cephalopod that lived mainly during the Ordovician period. It first appears during the middle Ordovician, around 470 million years ago, and was a fairly common component of the fauna in some places during the period, inhabiting the shallow seas of Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia. Its diversity and abundance became severely reduced following the Ordovician–Silurian extinction events, and the last remnants of the genus went extinct sometime during the Wenlock.