This box is carved out of volcanic ash that covered these ancient sea animals. And was fossilized under the pressure of the ocean over millions of years. It is around 6 inches wide, and 3 1/4 inches tall, and 1/4 inch thick. Orthoceras: These very primitive members of the phylum Cephalopoda are similar to the ammonites, with a straight shell. Approximately 400, 000, 000 years old, orthoceras are the ancestral cousin of the modern-day squid or octopus. The word orthoceras means " Straight Horn", and refers to its shape. All orthoceras have chambers separated by walls called septa. They also have a tube that runs down the center of the fossil called a Siphuncle. It is believed that this tube was used to carry gas into the chambers to control the buoyancy of the shell. The Orthoceras from Morocco occurs as white fossils in a dark grey or black marble matrix. The result is a fossil with very good contrast. This probably is the best selling of the Moroccan fossils. Ammonite: The word Ammonite is derived from the name of the Greek God Ammon", that appeared with rams horns on his head. Members of the Phylum Cephalopoda, these are the distant Ancestors of the Chambered Nautilus. The animal that lived in these shells looked something like a Squid or an Octopus, with tentacles for grasping its food and moving around the ocean floor. It is speculated that Ammonites ate Trilobites and other small animals. There are several different species of Ammonites. Some Species were more than four feet across in size, while others never got any bigger than a dime. The sea reptile (AM-un nyte), which means" coiled ham: was an air-breathing animal. This invertebrate creature looked somewhat like and is an ancestor of the octopus and the squid, except its body, was covered by a coiled chamber shell. Many had ornate ribs and markings on the outside of their shells. The FOSSIL AMMONITE SPECIMEN is from Morocco (The Sahara Desert) and is believed to be about 350 million years old.