We receive all manner of enquiries about our local marine life. A recent enquiry, however, concerned this ‘fossil’ from Victoria (please excuse the background): –
My friend and I were exploring the back beaches on Phillip Island (Victoria) last year and I brought home a cool looking rock with shells stuck in it. I now know it’s a fossil of some sort and would love to know more about it. I now live in Mount Gambier and still have the piece with me. Please see photos below: –
“… they are bivalves, with a small possibility of also including a brachiopod fragment. They appear to be embedded in a sandstone matrix.
IMG_4148 could be in the family Limidae: –
According to Wikipedia,“The Limidae or file shells are members of the only family of bivalvemolluscs in the order Limida.” According to the Marine Education Society of Australasia (MESA), “File shells are bivalve molluscs about 4 cm long, with a spectacular fringe of orange tentacles – divers call them flame shells. File shells live completely hidden on the seabed inside nests, which they build from shells, stones and other materials around them. Hundreds of these nests can combine to form a dense bed, raising and stabilising the seabed and making it more attractive for lots of other creatures. File shell reefs are good hunting grounds for young fish, and offer good attachment for scallop spat, as they settle from the plankton. File shells are one of the few groups of bivalves that swim.”
“This article on a dinosaur fossil found on Phillip island indicates an age of the rocks of 126-million-year-old (Cretaceous Period):-
(This is a Biblical Geology website – so I notice they are not stating ages).”
We passed this information on to the enquirer who was most appreciative. They even offered their beach rock collection to us when they start travelling around the country: –
“Oh wow that’s really fascinating! I’ve always admired it. When I start travelling aus I will need to get rid of my beach rock collection, I’d love to donate some of my collection to you guys if you’d like it. (This will be some years in the future as I’m looking after my parents)
Thankyou so much for looking into it this for me. I’ll keep it in my glass case and take good care of this piece.”
Steve Reynolds is the current President of MLSSA and is a long-standing member of the Society. Steve was a keen diver, underwater explorer & photographer before illness struck. He is chief author of the Society's extensive back catalogue of newsletters and journals.