When my wife and I visited Jeff's magical "Cookiecutter Creek" to stock up on some micro-matrix to sort through while the Peace River reloads the gravel beds throughout the summer months, we found a number of bivalve and gastropod shells in this marine fossil deposit. Many of the shells were rather beat up but a few of the bivalves were complete (with a matching set of valves) and a few of the gastropods were acceptably intact enough to collect. The most interesting one we found were a few intact conch shells. From some online image searches I believe this may be (or be related to) Melongena corona, the Florida Crown Conch. The most distinctive and eye-catching aspect of this species is the row of sharp protuberances not only around the upper shoulder of the whorl but also along a second row closer to the anterior canal (opposite the apex). The examples I found seem similar to the shells of the extant Crown Conch but from what I seem to see online the protuberances on the shoulder seem to point more upward toward the apex (forming a bit more of a "crown" in appearance) where on the fossils these points are directed much more outward.
Anybody on the forum familiar with the fossil gastropods commonly found in the southwest portion of Florida who would be willing to confirm or suggest a better ID for these intriguing little gastropods?
Cheers.
-Ken