Panopea floridana
And Pictured Below is a Fossil Panopea with blister pearls.
This is just one of the fossil floridana with natural blister pearls, as you can see this one is loaded with pearls. There are others available also some with just a couple of pearls to one of the best pictured above. These are whole shells, both haves.
For those know about these fossil
shells you know what a rare find this is. This 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 feet under the sea floor.
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are so large that they cannot be completely withdrawn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 2 lbs. 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 and sand
etc just filled up the shell. 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.
Panopea floridana