Belemnites
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 tentacles. 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.
Belemnites like these are easily found in the loose sand and gravel. It was once believed that belemnites were lightning bolts that had turned to stone!
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