Chocolate Fossil

A little off the beaten path today. I present a chocolate brachiopod. Okay, it is not brachiopod or fossil but a Guylian Belgian Chocolate seashell.



I like how each seashell is double sided.


Not long after this picture was taken this chocolate mollusk became extinct. It was yummy!

This next picture is maybe a chocolate clam.


Here is a spiral snail with some shell ornamentation.


I included a fossil of an Ordovician Period snail called Loxoplocus from the Drake Formation in Kentucky.

This next candy piece might be some sort of shrimp.


Here is a picture of the box of candy. Eleven different sea shells chocolates shapes are represented in the box (contains 22 in all) and I took pictures of just a few. A family friend from Austria gave me these chocolates as a thank you for changing the oil in their car.

According to the company website, this product is their best seller. I found the taste unique and the chocolate pieces have a multi-color appearance. Two types of chocolates appeared to be used, one darker than the other. The center of the candy piece is roasted hazelnut praliné which is coated a special chocolate blend. Their website goes into much more detail about the chocolate and its ingredients.


One last note about a special project that Guylian does. It is called Project Seahorse which the company donates money to for each box of sea shell candy sold. They are trying to help conserve seahorses in the world as their habitat is being threatened.

Loxoplocus Snail Graveyard

This rock represents a Loxoplocus gastropod graveyard. This creature existed in the Ordovician period. The rock is part of a wall where KYANA holds its fossil study.

Update: The Loxoplocus is now known as the Paupospira.

Loxoplocus Gastropod

I was testing the Canon Powershot Pro1 camera's Super Macro mode by taking some pictures of this gastropod. It looks like the light was bright enough for my images but the camera let me get within 2 inches of the specimen.

NOTE: It was pointed out that this gastropod lived in the Ordovician Period not Mississippian as the picture lists. Also apparently this genus is now referred to as Paupospira.

UPDATE: (2020-08-22) I removed one of the images and updated another to remove the time period reference. Sorry about listing this and I hope the old images eventually disappear from the Internet's image databases.

Loxoplocus Gastropod (Snail)

Here is a Loxoplocus bowdeni gastropod from the Marble Hill Bed of the Rowland Member of the Drakes Formation (equivalent the Whitewater Formation in Indiana) in Trimble County, Kentucky, USA. It was found during a KYANA field trip in May 2008. It is about 4 cm in length. Also the genus is now known as Paupospira.

Fossil dates to the Ordovician Period Katian (Richmondian) Stage.