Gastropods
The word 'Gastropod' means 'stomach foot'. These animals have a single muscular foot that is used to move across the sea floor. They are called univalves because they build a single coiled shell to protect their soft bodies. Ancient fossilized gastropods are related to living gastropods of today like snails. Gastropods can be carnivorous (meat-eaters) or herbivorous (plant eaters). The carnivorous snails have tongues that are covered with thousands of tiny teeth to tear apart food.
Gastropod fossils (snails) are relatively common on our property and we have a variety of them. They are from the Cretaceous period, living about 100 million years ago. Anchura, Cerithium Bosquense, Tylostoma and Turritella fossils are abundant on the property. As you can see below, the shape and sizes of the fossils vary greatly. The Turritella is long and narrow, and the Tylostoma are fatter, and more round. The Anchura typically have a swirly ornamentation around the whorls of the snail and the Cerithium Bosquense have a loose coil.
Check out Gastropods in these counties: