Chondrites is a trace fossil ichnogenus, preserved as small branching burrows of the same diameter that superficially resemble the roots of a plant.

[1] There are four recognized Chondrites ichnospecies, however, aberrant forms of unknown taxonomic affinity have been discovered.

It is one of the most common ichnotaxa throughout the fossil record and is widely distributed in all types of marine sedimentary rocks, including sandstone, shale, limestone and marl that formed in environments ranging from subtidal shelves to the abyssal zone.

For example, Chondrites is abundant almost to the exclusion of other ichnogenera in Posidonia Shale, formed from laminated, black, carbonaceous clay, deposited in an anoxic, reducing environment.

While some authors hypothesize Chondrites to be the product of an infaunal abyssal nematode, others propose it to be formed by a chemosymbiotic organism, pumping methane and hydrogen sulfide from the sediments.