Class Gastropoda

This is one of the main divisions of the Phylum Mollusca.  Gastropods (snails and slugs) are elongate molluscs with a well-developed head and a large flattened foot and are believed to be the most abundant of all the molluscs stretching from the Cambrian to present day.  They are characterised by having a coiled calcareous univalved shell.

Platyceras is found usually in a naticiform to uncoiled state; often irregular, coiling.  Growth lines and corrugations dominate the ornament.  This particular gastropod had an interesting co-existence with the crinoids.  Often described as symbiotic, Platyceras was thought to have attached and scavenged directly off the crinoid calyx perhaps feeding off ejected material from the anal tube.