Fossil Facts > Belemnite

Belemnites are a common fossil you may come across on the beach.  Belemnites are closely related to the ammonites and are also members of the cephalopods.  In life they resembled squid. The fossils that are found are a bullet-shaped structures made from calcite.  These structures are called guards (or rostrums) and were located inside the tip of the belemnites’ body (rear end).  Sometimes the chambered phragmacone can be found still inside the wide end of the belemnite.  Often, they have fallen out before the animal became a fossil and all that remains is cone-shaped hole in the end of the belemnite.  The chambered phragmacone are exactly like the chambered ammonite shell and were used for buoyancy control.  These belemnite fossils can often break and finding a good complete one can be difficult but if you look hard and closely enough, you’re almost guaranteed to find one on the beach.