Hi Rick,

Terebratalia transversa is our most common west coast brachiopod.
You can always tell a brachiopod from a mollusc by the internal
skeleton: the bivalve skeleton consists of the 2 shell valves only,
whereas brachiopods have a thin inner skeleton between the two shelly
ones.

Cheers,
Peter Egerton
Vancouver, Canada



At 04:32 PM 4/24/00 -0700, you wrote:
>This is a common  brachiopod, Phylum Brachiopoda, having two shells - but
>not a mollusk.
>
>Cheers
>Rick
>-----Original Message-----
>From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Monday, April 24, 2000 4:33 PM
>Subject: California Bivalve
>
>
>>Just finished entering our bivalve collection into our computer. Have a
>shell
>>that was obtained as Terebratalia transversa (Sowerby, 1846) from off La
>>Jolla, California attached to rocks in 120 ft. of water. Color is orange.
>>Can't find anything about this genus or species. The genus was not in A
>>Classification Of The Living Mollusca, so assume it is bogus. Anyone have a
>>wild idea what it might be. Thanking all in advance.
>>Bob
>>Panama City, Florida
>>
>
>
-------------------------------------------------------
Peter Egerton, Vancouver, Canada
Collector of worldwide Mollusca,
student of zoology and computers for life.
Step into my website:
http://www.intergate.bc.ca/personal/seashell/index.html
-------------------------------------------------------