Aladdin's Lamp Comes to Life

 This fossil clam is named Yoldia cooperi (Gabb, 1865), is approximately 4 million years old, and is found occasionally in the Purisima Formation along Monterey Bay. The genus Yoldia is named in honor of D. A. D.'Aquirra e Gadea, Count of Yoldi, a Danish shell collector. I'm not sure who Cooper was. I enjoy discovering this beautiful clam species because of its fine sculpture, its thin shell (which makes it challenging to collect unbroken so it keeps my skill set sharp), and its whimsical similarity to an Aladdin's Lamp! Also interesting and making it completely unique from all other mollusks in the Purisima is this species' long row of many fine hinge teeth and alternating sockets found along the majority of the dorsal margin of the shell, shown in the second photo above. Today, Yoldia cooperi lives in the eastern Pacific from Humboldt County to Baja California Sur and in fine sediments from 5 to 40 meters. Its habitat has likely not changed much in the past 4 million years, as it is found entombed in fine to medium sandstones of the Purisima as well. Shown here with some of the tools needed to extract it safely from the rock, including the consolidant; a liquid hardening compound. This particular specimen at the top was extracted over a period of several days in order to allow the successive applications of consolidant to fully dry before moving the specimen from its tomb. WT730 (Below), WT765 (Above). #Paleontologist, #Santa Cruz, #Monterey, #paleontology, #beach fossils, #Purisima, #Purisima Formation, #fossil, #pacific paleontology, @pacificpaleontology, #fossil hunting, #collecting techniques, #Bivalve, #Research, #Pliocene,