Here's an interesting announcement, just published today:

Meterorite Impact in the Devonian Period (http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_789873.html?menu=news.scienceanddisco very)

It seems that evidence of a major meteorite impact has just been announced at a date of 380mya. This is interesting from the point of cephalopod evolution as it is around this date that the earliest ammonoids appear in the fossil record. Could it be that ammonoids evolved from the earlier nautiloids around this point to exploit an ecological niche caused by a mass extinction?

Food for thought.......

Interesting!

Or perhaps cephalopods were really aliens travelling on the meteorite, in an inter-galactic version of manifest destiny!

:?: :goofysca: :?:

That's it! You've got it! He he!

:tomato: (closest I could get to an impact emoticon) :tomato:

Usually iridium-rich layers of rock tell of meteor impacts. Seems that's what they found there.

Interesting point about the mass-extinction/ammonite dominion, Phil. You may be right; often enough, the evolutionary counter-explosion that result after mass extinctions can tip the scales to anyone's favor.

Thanks for the article!

Sushi and Sake,

John

well theres one way to test this hypothesis...put an octo in a tank with some iridium....if it takes a copper approach and croaks, obviously they dont serve a certain someone :cthulhu: and didnt come from outer space...

so genius no one understands me :)
:cthulhu: :heart: :beer: