But without the shell they were vulnerable, so a new defensive tool arose: ink. Never seen in nautiloids or ammonoids, ink is often preserved in coleoid fossils, thanks to the stability of the pigment melanin. Fossilized belemnite ink was first discovered by English paleontologist Mary Anning in 1826. Her friend and fellow fossil hunter Elizabeth Philpot reconstituted the ink to draw ichthyosaurs, beginning a trend of fossil ink illustration that continues today.
