Squid Kiss *Downloadable

Did you know squids could kiss? This kiss in particular happened to be preserved for millions of years! What you are looking at is a trace fossil (a fossil of an organism interacting with a medium, like a footprint). This trace was made by a squid sitting on the seafloor with its arms splayed out then as the squid propelled itself from the floor its arms dug into the sediment leaving these radial gouges you see today. This fossil is from the Mowry Formation and is approximately 97 million years old! This was a time where much of North America was covered by a sea called the Western Interior Seaway. Trace fossils are given scientific names just like animals, Asterichnites octoradialis is the name given to trace fossils like the one you see here, also known as a squid kiss.