Diploria labyrinthiformis, known by the common name grooved brain coral, is a species of stony coral in the family Faviidae. Found in tropical areas of the west Atlantic Ocean, it has an appearance that makes it familiar to many. This species of reef-building coral has a hemispherical, brain-like shape with a brown, yellow, or gray color. It has characteristic deep, interconnected double-valleys. These polyp-bearing valleys are each separated by grooved ambulacral ridges...

A nice intact cast (organism not shell) clam fossil. This species would have gained food by filtering the water. This organism would have lived in the lower Cretaceous Period making it 65 million to 136 million years old (the late dinosaur era). Found at Monroe Bay, Westmoreland County, Virginia along the Potomac River. Measurement is 6 inches long by 4 inches wide by 3 inches thick.

A nice intact cast (organism not shell) clam fossil showing the hinge a partial rear foot. This species would have gained food by filtering the water. This organism would have lived in the Oligocene Epoch (Tertiary Period) making it 26 million to 38 million years old. This species was just prior to whales, dolphins and purpose. Found at Monroe Bay, Westmoreland County, Virginia along the Potomac River. Measurement is 3 ¾ inches long by 3 inches wide by 2 inches thick.

Turritella Molds and Leperditia Molds Turritella molds are the corkscrew like cavities. This species was a cephalopod that crawled along the bottom of the sea looking for bits of food. These organisms would have lived in the Triassic period (with the early dinosaurs) making them 190 million to 225 million years old. Leperditia molds look clam like but are crustaceans distantly related to lobsters, crabs and barnacles...

Grouped here are a collection (colony) of shells that resemble the familiar scallops both in shape and in having radiating grooves and ridges on the surface. Devonochonetes are true bivalves; however, the belief is there was an appendage at the base of the shell to keep the organism upright within a colony. The example here was found at Monroe Bay, Westmoreland County, Virginia along the Potomac River. These organisms lived in the Devonian Period making them 345 million to 395 million years old...

The whale ear has specific adaptations to the marine environment. In humans, the middle ear works as an impedance matcher between the outside air's low impedance and the cochlear fluid's high impedance. However, in aquatic mammals, such as whales, there is no great difference between the outer and inner environments...

Ecphora is a close, extinct relative of Morex, and may have shared the same feeding habits. If so, Ecphora would have been a predator, boring holes in the shells of bivalves or other snails. A gland at the foot would have secreted a special chemical to soften the prey’s shell. A set of tiny teeth, called the radula, would have rasped first the shell and then the victim’s flesh. This example is of good quality with the tip worn down...

Megalodon (pronounced: MEG-ə-lə-don), means "big tooth", from Greek (megal, "big") and (odon "tooth") is an extinct species of shark that lived approximately 5 to 25 million years ago, during the Cenozoic Era (late Oligocene to early Pleistocene). Carcharodon. megalodon is regarded as one of the largest and most powerful predators in vertebrate history, and likely had a profound impact on the structure of marine communities...

Busycon is a genus of very large edible sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, in the family Buccinidae. These snails are commonly known in the U.S. as whelks or Busycon whelks. Busycon comes from the Greek: bous meaning cow and sykon meaning fig; translating to large fig. This is one of the few genera of gastropods in which the shell may coil either to the right or the left. These fossils date to the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era (65 million to 136 million years ago)...

Busycon is a genus of very large edible sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, in the family Buccinidae. These snails are commonly known in the U.S. as whelks or Busycon whelks. Busycon comes from the Greek: bous meaning cow and sykon meaning fig; translating to large fig. This is one of the few genera of gastropods in which the shell may coil either to the right or the left. These fossils date to the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era (65 million to 136 million years ago)...

Busycon is a genus of very large edible sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, in the family Buccinidae. These snails are commonly known in the U.S. as whelks or Busycon whelks. Busycon comes from the Greek: bous meaning cow and sykon meaning fig; translating to large fig. This is one of the few genera of gastropods in which the shell may coil either to the right or the left...

Busycon is a genus of very large edible sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks, in the family Buccinidae. These snails are commonly known in the U.S. as whelks or Busycon whelks. Busycon comes from the Greek: bous meaning cow and sykon meaning fig; translating to large fig. This is one of the few genera of gastropods in which the shell may coil either to the right or the left. These fossils date to the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era (65 million to 136 million years ago). This example was f...