Half Bivalve Fossil / Fossilized Panopea floridana shell blister pearls yns68

Description

Florida fossil /
fossilized
Panopea floridana sea shell comes from the Panther Pit in Charlotte County, Florida. The shell pit where these were found has been under water for many years it is now a lake. Alot of our fossils shells are rare or extinct and hard to come by.
You will get the exact fossil shown above in photo's.
Caloosahatchee Formation
Lenght: 101.1 mm
3.98"
Width: 137.7 mm
5.42"
Panther Pit, Caloosahatchee Formation, Charlotte County, Florida, USA
Thanks for looking.
Florida fossilized fossil Panopea floridana, this panopea is thick shelled, most fossil panopea's are thin shelled, however this is a very thick shelled, panopea's are also know as geoduck,king clams, gooeys or giant clams. Panopea floridana bivalve shell comes from the Panther Pit in Charlotte County, Florida. The shell pit where these were found has been under water for many years it is now a lake. Alot of our fossils shells are rare or extinct and hard to come by.
Fossil panopea floridana is not broke with the large gap on the one side the animal that was inside was to large for its shell and they lived about 3 to 4 feet. There contractile siphons can stretch nearly 4 feet and are so large that they cannot be completely withdrawn into the shell , the actually animal in present day to weigh up to 12 lbs. They inhabit mud flats in burrows. The present day panopea is called a geoduck, king clams, gooeys or giant clams. The oldest known present day panopea is 147 years old in Canada. Panopea age can be calculated by the annual growth rings like a tree. So when they died the shells filled up the shell with dirt, mud etc. Modern day panopea are considered a delicacy since they are so hard to find. Present day panopeas are known to live in depths of 2 feet to more than 250 feet deep. Panopea's are the largest burrowing clams in the world. For those know about these fossil shells you know what a rare find this is.
Our Identification info is based on general ID names we lost our ID books in storms and beyond we took a direct hit by Hurricane Charley which soaked the books we had and we are too old to go and replace them and relearn all the info again. we will do our best to name what we can give the general name and the pit they came from and whatever general information we can give, there is so much controversy about shell names and how to id them and some of them look so close as look alike shells, Florida is known to have the most pristine fossil shells in the world. We personally hand collected our shells many years ago and have been fossil collecting for more than 25 years and collected what we could, if we didn't collect all of these shells they would have been lost forever, all of the pits are now full of water and are bass ponds and condos and with all the pits now have been closed to the following due to all trespassers / fossil hunting and clubs / fossil hunting clubs, a lot of the pits are not even allowing the workers to collect anything and truck drivers could not leave their trucks while they were waiting to get loaded. Due to stricter Insurance rules etc...,And what we have heard from multiple owners and management that started all the fossil hunting bans, happened due to some fossil clubs / clubs , the members climbing 30 ft banks and have fell down and got hurt pretty bad and sued the pit owner and won even though they signed a liability release form which the pit owners learned that the release was not worth the paper it was written on. Fossil Hunting Ban
The poor pit owner was just trying to be nice to the clubs / fossil clubs and let them in to fossil / shell hunters, No good deed goes unpunished,The pit owner is just trying to make a living and do something nice for the fossil hunters and he lost big and it didn't take long for the lawsuit info to get to all the other pit owners, the truck drivers, pit workers, and everyone in that type of business and the people that bought the materials from and hauled to them. Lucky for us we were really good friends with the owners and management in the pits for years even after the fossil hunting ban was put into effect. So whatever collections that are out there and shells are for sale, just please keep in mind, to get the fossil shells while you can, these may be the last fossils that you could get for your collections, If you want a fossil get it while you can. It may be your last chance.