I'm in need of your help.
I'm trying to learn how to recognize and maybe differentiate brachiopods from bivalves in the worn fossil rocks I find on Lake Michigan's beaches.
If indeed it is one or the other, how do you tell which?
In the photo below, what looks like the shaft of an arrow, is it the foot or stalk?
OTOH, if it's neither b-pod nor bivalve, what is it?
Often I find just bits and pieces in these tumbled rocks. I suspect some of them to be parts of shells, but I'm not quite sure.
The shape within my blue circle below is visible over and over on many of my finds. Is thisa part of a shell? Or not?
This fossil turns the corner on the same rock as above. It's visible on both sides of the fossilized rock, which is about 5mm wide.
I've combined photos of both sides of the rock onto one pic. The total length of this fossil is just about 2.5 cm.
I assume that's a cross section of a shell showing the insides of the two valves?