Sea snails

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Otherwise known as – Gastropods
Pronounced – Gas-tro-pod
Meaning of name – Greek for “Stomach foot”
Group – Gatropoda, Mollusca
Age – Lower Jurassic, around 195 million years old

First evolving over 500 million years ago, we can find fossil snails in rocks of all ages. They come in a wide range of colours and sizes, with modern sea snails including beautiful “Sea Butterflies”, Tritons, and Periwinkles that we can find here on our beaches at Charmouth.

The fossilised sea snails we find here are sometimes preserved in fool’s gold, or iron pyrite. A good way to find them is by sieving though patches of fool’s gold on the beach. Summer is a good time to do this as the sand is drier. If you’re lucky, you will find shiny sea snails and ammonites to take back home with you.

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Golden snails

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These fool's gold sea snails were collected from the beach between Charmouth and Lyme Regis. It is lucky to find fossils this small, as they are easily washed into the sea and destroyed. They can be found when looking for pyrite ammonites.