Delaware: Belemnitella americana (state fossil)

The official state fossil of Delaware is a belemnite, Belemnitella americana. What is a belemnite, you ask? It is an extinct squidlike animal with an internal shell. Only the shells are found as fossils. They are common in Cretaceous marine deposits from about 70 million years ago, especially the Mount Laurel Formation.

Belemnites first appeared in the oceans during the Mississippian Period, around 300 million years ago, and probably evolved from straight-shelled cephalopods. They went extinct at the close of the Cretaceous. Some believe that the asteroid that may have finished off the dinosaurs rang the death knell for belemnites too. Others point to the rise of faster fish and sea birds around this time as the likely cause of the belemnites' demise.

The building of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in the 1820s cut through the Cretaceous marine formations and exposed many belemnite fossils. The dredge spoil piles from the canal are still a good place to look for specimens today, although most are fragmented and complete specimens are rare.

Because the belemnite Belemnitella americana is restricted to the Delaware area and important in biostratigraphy, the governor named it the Delaware state fossil in July of 1996.

For further information:

Delaware State Fossil

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