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Holography reveals the soft anatomy of ancient cephalopods

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Abstract

It is productive to view the suture-lines on fossil cephalopod shells as simple Fraunhoeffer diffraction patterns which can be inverted, by elementary Fourier Transformation, to provide a clear holographic image of the soft body-mass that produced them. As fleshy body organs are rarely ever preserved in ancient fossils it is particularly valuable to be able to deduce soft anatomy from conspicuous and usually well-preserved shell markings. Preliminary studies reported in this paper supply insight into the ontogeny and phylogeny of ancient cephalopods.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Theoretical Conchology, The Scientific Arts Research Centre, 2 Tern Place, 5019, Semaphore Park, South Australia, Australia

    Christopher Roy Illert

  2. Department of Compuer Graphics, The Scientific Arts Research Centre, 2/3 Birch Crescent, 2500, East Corrimal, New South Wales, Australia

    Daniela Reverberi

Authors
  1. Christopher Roy Illert
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  2. Daniela Reverberi
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Illert, C.R., Reverberi, D. Holography reveals the soft anatomy of ancient cephalopods. Bltn Mathcal Biology 50, 19–34 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02459975

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02459975

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