Article: Orientation of cephalopod shells in illustrations

Most drawings and photographs of fossil cephalopods show the shell upside down in respect to the animal's living position. As there is no advantage in this way of making illustrations, presumably based ot tradition, the author suggests that fossil as well as living cephalopods should be illustrated in life position. This is particularly important today, as functional morphology is of vital interest to cephalopod workers. To facilitate understanding of the behaviour of fossil cephalopods, the first step must be to see them orientated in the same way as they saw each other.