| Cameroceras Temporal range: Ordovician |
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| Cameroceras trentonese | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Subclass: | Nautiloidea |
| Order: | Endocerida |
| Family: | Endoceratidae |
| Genus: | Cameroceras Conrad, 1842 |
| Species | |
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Cameroceras ("chambered horn") was a genus of giant orthoconic cephalopod that lived during the Ordovician period.
The partial shell of one giant Cameroceras yielded a total length estimated at the time at nearly 30 feet (9 m). This estimate has since been revised downward quite a bit;[1] Frey (1995) gives a length of up to 6 m.[2] Regardless of this estimate's degree of accuracy, this gargantuan cephalopod was one of the largest animals to live during the Paleozoic Era, if not the largest. Judging from its huge size, it was likely an apex predator that lived in deeper water (it would possibly have been unable to maneuver in shallow water), and probably fed on eurypterids such as Megalograptus, large trilobites, and smaller cephalopods. The program "Chased by Sea Monsters" speculatively suggests that it was largely blind, having large, yet feeble eyes like those of what may be its closest living relative, Nautilus.
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"Cameroceras" has become a catch all term, or "wastebasket taxon," for any large orthoconic endocerid such as Endoceras, Vaginoceras, Meniscoceras, and even Cameroceras as a described genus. Although Cameroceras trentonense was first described by Conrad for the species in 1842 since then the generic term has had variable meaning. Hall, who named and described Endoceras in 1847 recognized Cameroceras trentonense specifically but used Endoceras for other species of large endocerids from the Trenton Limestone of western New York state.
"Cameroceras" and "Endoceras" may even apply to different stages of the same species. Although Cameroceras takes precedence where the two refer to the same species, its vague application leaves Endoceras or other well described genus the term of choice.
It was featured in the Ordovician section of the BBC series Sea Monsters (a spin-off to the successful Walking with Dinosaurs) as the top predator, and also had a brief cameo in Walking with Monsters, bobbing in the water. In the Walking with Dinosaurs companion books, it is misspelled as "Cameraceras". The 'straight-shelled nautiloid' from Animal Armageddon is also seems to be strongly based on this mollusk.