Recycle Program

[Sharkbyte]

Apparently the Governments recycle program is nothing new. This group of Turritella or Auger Snail shells demonstrates that nicely. Would it have been possible for the coral to cover this Turritella while it was alive because I notice that it did not grow over the opening? My guess would be no.

[MikeDOTB]

Apparently the Governments recycle program is nothing new. This group of Turritella or Auger Snail shells demonstrates that nicely. Would it have been possible for the coral to cover this Turritella while it was alive because I notice that it did not grow over the opening? My guess would be no.

Very interesting piece. Are those North Carolina finds?

[Sharkbyte]

Hello Mike,

Yes, these shells came out of Lumberton.

[Auspex]

That's a wonderful piece; two fossils with a dash of ichno. Love it!

[MikeDOTB]

That's a wonderful piece; two fossils with a dash of ichno. Love it!

Thats pretty cool though. I would have never even noticed it. What age are those shells coming out of? I have found Turitella coming out of Paleocene deposits before up in Virginia/Maryland. But thats about all my experience with those.

[Al Dente]

Would it have been possible for the coral to cover this Turritella while it was alive because I notice that it did not grow over the opening? My guess would be no.

This is most likely a shell that was occupied by a hermit crab. There are examples of bryozoans, hydrozoans, and like this example, corals encrusting shells occupied by hermit crabs. The advantage to the crab is the encrusting organism continues to grow as the crab grows so the crab doesn't need to find larger shells to live in. This coral is probably Septastrea. Here is a reference to Sepastrea and hermit crab fossils:

DARRELL, J. G., AND P. D. TAYLOR. 1989. Scleractinian symbionts of

hermit crabs in the Pliocene of Florida. Memoir of the Association of

Australasian Palaeontologists, 8:115–123.

[Sharkbyte]

Hello,

Thank you very much for some really intersting and helpful information. I enjoyed reading it.

Bobby

This is most likely a shell that was occupied by a hermit crab. There are examples of bryozoans, hydrozoans, and like this example, corals encrusting shells occupied by hermit crabs. The advantage to the crab is the encrusting organism continues to grow as the crab grows so the crab doesn't need to find larger shells to live in. This coral is probably Septastrea. Here is a reference to Sepastrea and hermit crab fossils:

DARRELL, J. G., AND P. D. TAYLOR. 1989. Scleractinian symbionts of

hermit crabs in the Pliocene of Florida. Memoir of the Association of

Australasian Palaeontologists, 8:115–123.