We finally found our first shark tooth from Purisima formation. Plenty of fossil shells as well. Important: walking too close to the cliffs can be dangerous.
While walking along the brown and gray deposits of Purisima formation marveling at multiple shells sticking out of the walls made of fine sediments, we got attracted by a few large bones and discovered a shark tooth within a foot of one of the bones. A little imagination and you can envision the moment when a shark lost its tooth while ripping flesh of that very bone that now is embedded in the same layer of dark and sandy sediment. It’s like a crime scene from a couple of million years ago, preserved in stone. Are there more teeth nearby? Can the bone have bite marks? The tooth resembles those sticking out of the jaws of great white sharks that are occasionally spotted in these waters nowadays. Surely, any fossil hunting trip somewhere in South Carolina, Maryland, or Florida would produce more numerous shark teeth but it was a significant find for us and a solid prove that Pacific coast has its own fossilized treasures.
In close proximity, we found a whale vertebra, still mostly in matrix but not that difficult to recognize. Erosion will eventually reveal more details but as of the tooth, who knows, if we would come few weeks later it would got loose, separated from the matrix, and probably split into tiny pieces by the waves and pebbles.
Elephant seals, by the way, like to rest near the trail along the Ano Nuevo creek, sometimes even on the trail. These animals are huge and can be dangerous. They can lie on the sand motionless and look dead but once in a while they raise their heads to look around or scratch themselves with front flippers.
Large, well-preserved clamps were clearly visible on the cliff surface at various heights. We were impressed by the fossil bonanza. Couple of large pectens or scallop shells really caught our attention. Did you know that certain small scallops found in Hawaii are called sunrise shells? I think this name suits to all scallops. Interestingly, dark shells of Langford pectens are called moonrise shells. A fellow tourist was passing by and mentioned that 15 years ago he found a scallop that was twice as big as this one.
Large, almost flat clam shells with smooth surface look like Tresus, Mactromeris or Macoma. Relatively common are elongated bivalves belonging to Siliqua species. Those that resemble modern-day cockle shells are Clinocardium. Some of them still have intricate details on the surface.
Among spiral gastropod shells, Nassarius is quite common. They also called mud snails, channeled basket snails or dog whelks. The shells indeed look like they were woven. According to Wikipedia the scientific name of the species originates from Latin word “nassa” spelled with double “s”. Nassa means a narrow-neck basket used to catch fish. These creatures inhabit muddy bays and estuaries living an obscure life of scavengers. They are known to crawl under the mud surface with only siphon extended to provide water flow. Surely, they similar shells belonging to other species as well. It’s hard to do precise identification based on fragmented material.
Here is another gastropod, on the left from the broken basket shell.
It has elongated shape and relatively smooth surface. It is probably Neptunea species.
I wonder what is hidden inside of round concretions sticking out of the cliff. In other localities, such concretions may contain fossilized crabs.
Rounded gastropod shells that resemble moon snails are probably Cryptonatica species, the predatory marine mollusks.
You can spend hours and hours walking along the shore and finding many more fossils belonging to various species. Some shells had cavities filled with translucent yellow calcite.
In certain places, there were burrows created by marine creatures, perhaps, piddock clams. Some stones also contained elongated structures that may well be burrows of shrimp, marine worms or mole crabs.
Every rock here is a unique page in the stone book of Nature’s history. You just have to be curious and pay attention.
And, just as a reminder, pictures is all you allowed to take from this very cool place that is located on protected public land. I’m sure we will visit it again and find more interesting fossils. See yah!
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Негізгі бет Fossilized shark tooth and shells in the coastal cliffs of Central California.
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