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Belemnitella (Morton)
Belemnites belong
to a diverse group of
cephalopods which include the squid, cuttlefish and octopus
characterized by an internal chambered shell known as a guard. Looking
like bullets or orange pens,
Belemnitella
is found in abundance at Big Brook and one of the species that survived
nearly to the end of the
Cretaceous period. The forward part of the guard (the back is the
pointed end) has a V shaped chamber which was used for buoyancy control.
Casts of these chambers are often mistaken for teeth.
Belemnitella
can occur in huge numbers in some localities in so-called belemnite
grave yards.
Belemnites average between 1 and 2 inches reaching
upwards of 4 inches.
Pictured are the typical stream finds
Scale 1 inch
Monmouth County, NJ
These belemnites were found split like this. This
gives a good view of the chamber.
A group of large beleminites, the top one measures 4
1/4 inches.
These were found where a large section of the stream wall had collapsed
due to natural erosion.
Belemnitella has a pointed tip. Stream wear
quickly breaks these off,
finding one with the tip intact is uncommon
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