Does anyone know if this is a petrified clam shell? I found it on the beach and my first thought was that it was a petrified clam shell but am i wrong? Any info would be great thanks so much
It's pretty beat up, but from the ‘beaked’ appearance of one side where the hinge is, I would say it’s a fossil brachiopod. Bivalves such as clams have shells with two parts that are mirror images of each other along the plane of their opening (ie they’re horizontally symmetrical). Brachiopods have symmetry that runs down the middle of each half (ie they’re vertically symmetrical).
The two groups are not related. Brachiopods belong to Phylum Brachiopoda, whereas bivalves belong to Phylum Mollusca.