Re: Cephalopod parasites

[Charles Sturm <csturmjr+@xxxxxxxx>]

I have no information dealing with cephalopods.  You might want to see 
Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, I believe No. 57, 1987 for an 
article on an inclusion found inside a bivalve (possibly Mercenaria, my 
memory is cloudy :-) ) which is from the Pliocene-Pleistocene Fms. of 
North Carolina.  If you do not have access to the work I can get a copy 
for you.

  C.F. Sturm, Jr
  csturmjr@pitt.edu
  pittsburgh, pa.

On Thu, 10 Aug 1995, Neale Monks wrote:

> Dear All,
> 
> I have recently come accross some very odd ammonite fossils, in which the
> internal moulds of the adult body chamber strongly suggests that there were
> structures rather like 'attached pearls' on the iside of the shell.
> 
> They are small ovals (about 0.5mm long).
> 
> Are there any parasites that cause the host mollusc to produce a blister on
> the inside face of the shell, ultimately placing nacre over the blister and
> sealing it off? It is VERY odd that only adult chambers show these, and
> even then only a tiny proportion of all individuals.
> 
> Beneath the pearl, there is no evidence to suggest that a perforation to
> the external face of the shell ever existed. The  nacre and prismatic
> layers are intact.
> 
> Thanks for any help or ideas,
> 
> Neale.
> 
> 
> 
> From  Neale Monks' PowerBook, at...
> 
> Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD
> Internet: N.Monks@nhm.ac.uk, Telephone: 0171-938-9007
> 
> "...now Nature is having the last laugh. The freaky stuff is turning out to
> be the mathematics of the natural world"
> 
> from 'Arcadia', by Tom Stoppard
> 
>