Monday 13 January 2014

FOSSILS: VENERICARDIA





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I recently visited Bracklesham bay, West Sussex with the kids to do a spot of fossil hunting. Its an ideal spot for the family as its so flat we could take the pram along with us too.  We weren't expecting to find many fossils  but we were surprised by the amount that are just washed up in the sand. 

One of the most numerous fossils on the beach was the fossilised shell of Venericadia, a marine mollusc that lived 44 million years ago.  These fossils are found in the Palaeocene and Eocene strata in Europe, America and Africa.

Venericardia lived in shallow seas on seas beds of sand and silt. This bivalve had a wide, ribbed shell that could grow up to 150 mm.  The shell has deep ribs running back to front which are intersected buy shallow groves, which make it look very shell like and similar to modern day clams.  In fact these fossils do look incredibly new that is is only the brown colouration and weight that makes it stand out amongst the shells.


Venericardia burrowed into the ground posterior end uppermost and could withstand turbulent waters.There are large hinge teeth on the inside of  the molluscs shell which gave them immense strength and protection amongst predators and desiccation.

Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Mollusca
Class:Bivalvia
Order:Carditoida
Superfamily:Carditoidea
Family:Carditidae
Subfamily:Venericardiinae
Genus:Venericardia

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