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What are these shells - and piece of coral?
07-27-2012, 09:12 AM,
#4
Re: What are these shells - and piece of coral?
In the first picture the two shells at the top, orange and yellow, look a lot like cockle shells (family Cardiidae) at first glance.  The problem is, they don't have nearly the number of ribs that the Florida cockle shells have.  Therefore I'm thinking that they may be pecten, or scalllop, shells that are badly worn and have the two thin "ears" broken off.  The lighter colored one also has faint traces of a darker pattern like that of the Calico Scallop, Argopecten gibbus.  So that's my best guess.

Center left is a species of the Venus Clam family, Veneridae, probably the Cross-Barred Venus or Cancellate Venus, Chione cancellata.

Center right is a definite Pecten (Scallop) shell, probably the Bay Scallop, Argopecten irradians. (Picture this upside down with the two triangular extensions removed, and you'll see what I meant regarding the two shells at the top).

Bottom is really just a shell fragment, not much to go on.  Possibly a piece of a Zigzag Scalllop, Evola ziczac.

The shell in the other picture appears to be an oyster, probably the lower shell valve of a Virginia Oyster, Crassostrea virginica.

Can't help you with the coral, sorry.  I know some of the hard corals, but this appears to be one of the many soft (flexible) corals, and I'm not very knowledgeable about them.
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Re: What are these shells - and piece of coral? - by paul monfils - 07-27-2012, 09:12 AM

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