Clam Shell ID#121

Common Name: Clam

Class: Bivalvia

Epoch:Eocene

Fossil Type: Shell

Fossil Length: 2.9 Inches 7.37 cm

Fossil Width: 4.07 Inches 10.34 cm

Location Found: Alabama

Info About Bivalvia

Bivalves are a very ancient diverse lineage of animals, encompassing scallops, mussels, oysters, clams & cockles. Bivalves date back to practically the beginning of the Phanerozoic Eon in the Cambrian Period over 500 million years ago, 300 million years before the dinosaurs. Despite their generally similar body form of a 2-halved hinged shell exoskeleton bivalves have a very diverse life style. Most bivalves are primarily filter feeders, feeding on detritus and phytoplankton in the water column. Though there are many notable exceptions: such as those that specialize in the consumption of wood (ship worms (not a worm)), some utilize symbiotic relationships with algae to feed, and some are even carnivores. All bivalves start as tiny larvae as a part of the local zooplankton drifting in the water column. As the bivalves mature some bivalves become quite immobile (such as an oyster) fusing themselves to a parent structure such as wood, stone, or even other oysters. While other bivalves can be quite motile tunneling through the sediments, and some bivalves such as the scallop can even swim.

References:

Bivalves. British Geological Survey. (2021, August 20). https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/fossils-and-geological-time/bivalves/#:~:text=Bivalves%20have%20inhabited%20the%20Earth,litter%20beaches%20across%20the%20globe.

Kean-Howie, J. C., O ’D or, R. K., & Scarratt, D. J. (1995). Evolution of feeding strategies throughout the life histories of bivalve molluscs, with emphasis on ontogeny and phylogeny. ICES, 199, 5–12.

Natureatlas©. (n.d.). https://natureatlas.org/zooplankton/midatlantic/IDclam.php

SubsurfaceMedia. (n.d.). Swimming Bay Scallops Homosassa Florida. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBH3UvlZo90