Jiongtao,

Subfossil shells are those that have died and usually been buried.  They are
Recent and thus cannot be fossils but they have begun the process to become
fossils.  A loss of color is often the first sign.  A lot of these shells
will show a pale orange coloring on a white background.  For Cypraea the
signs are usually faded colors and often some loss of the typical Cypraea
gloss or shine.  The same shell, if left in the water, will show the typical
signs of erosion while a subfossil shell, because it was buried, may show
little, if any,  erosion -- just the color loss/change.

By the way, I do not believe this is an official category or shell status.
It is just a way to describe a shell that is obviously not a fossil but has
undergone some changes that are not covered by the standard grading system.

Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA


> Could anyone of you can tell me what is the correct difinition of
"Subfossil
> Cowrie". Are they meaning color variations of cowries?