The Nummulite-Whisperer Snail
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The Nummulite-Whisperer Snail

by Manuel de Paz Álvarez

It has been long since Strabo mistook these coin-like shells for lentils dropped by rushed workers in the Gizah pyramids of Egypt.
These Nummulite fossils in particular once lived in a shallow sea of northern Iberia during the Ypresian (Eocene), some 50Ma ago. Today, still close to the coast, a snail crawls over them, absorbed in his morning thoughts.
Photo taken close to the Cantabrian locality of San Vicente de la Barquera, northern Spain.

Featured on GeoLog, the official blog of the European Geosciences Union