Fossils (Inventory)/Brachiopod

From LagWiki

The Brachiopod field of the Fossils section should be used to record any observation of fossil brachiopods.

Brachiopods are marine animals with a hinged, two-part shell on the top and bottom as opposed to the left and right arrangement of clams. They are, therefore, a bivalve but are not really related to other bivalve mollusks. Brachiopods also have a coiled, rigid cartilaginous internal structure called a lophophore, which sometimes appears in fossils.

Brachiopods and clams are sometimes difficult to distinguish as fossils. If the impression is bilaterally symmetrical, it is probably a brachiopod. If asymmetrical, it is probably a clam.

Brachiopod impressions can occur in large clusters.

See also

• Clam

References

• Romero, Aldemaro (2009) Cave Biology; Life in Darkness Cambridge University Press, New York p 89 ISBN-Hardback: 978-0-521-82846-8, ISBN-Paperback: 978-0-521-53553-3
• Coleman, Mary Carol and Cameron Coleman (2010) Fossils of Guadalupe Mountains National Park Carlsbad Caverns Guadalupe Mountains Association pp 23-26, http://www.ccgma.org

Fossils (Inventory)/Brachiopod is a part of the cave inventory project.