What is Gryphaea?
Q: What is Gryphaea?
A: Gryphaea is a genus of extinct oysters.
Q: Where are Gryphaea fossils commonly found?
A: Gryphaea fossils are common on the Jurassic Coast in southern England, and in the margins of the old Sundance Sea in the United States.
Q: What kind of mollusc is Gryphaea?
A: Gryphaea is a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Gryphaeidae.
Q: When were Gryphaea at their peak?
A: Gryphaea were at their peak in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
Q: When did Gryphaea go extinct?
A: Gryphaea went extinct about 34 million years ago.
Q: What is the structure of an oyster shell?
A: The oyster shell has two 'valves': a larger gnarly-shaped shell (the 'toenail') and a smaller, flattened shell, the 'lid'.
Q: Where did Gryphaea sit?
A: Gryphaea sat in huge muddy oyster beds in shallow tropical seas and the large curved shell sat in the mud on the sea floor.
