Phylum Mollusca
Mollusks have bilateral symmetry. There are three main classes of fossils represented in your fossil kit:
bivalvia, gastropoda, and cephalopoda.
bivalvia, gastropoda, and cephalopoda.
Is your fossil a gastropod?
Gastropod have a spiral shell that looks snail-like and bulges out at the center. |
Is your fossil a cephalopod?
Cephalopods are either in the form of a spiral shell that does not bulge out in the center. Straight form cephalopods have a straight tube-like structure with grooves running up the tube perpendicular to the length. |
Is your fossil a bivalve?
Bivalves are two valves (shells) that are identical. This makes them different from brachiopods, which also have 2 connecting shells, but they are not mirror images of each other. |