A fossilized internal shell of an extinct marine squid-like animal, often found as a hard, bullet-shaped stone in sedimentary rocks.
From Greek 'belemnon' (dart, arrow) + '-ite' (suffix for rocks or fossils), literally meaning 'arrow stone.' The term was coined because these fossils resembled stone projectiles.
Belemnites were so mysterious that people for centuries thought they were 'thunderbolts' that fell from the sky during storms—it wasn't until the 1600s that scientists realized they were actually fossil squid parts!
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