Name/Title
Marine Gastropod - SpiniplatycerasEntry/Object ID
2022.2.27.7Description
This marine gastropod Spiniplatyceras fossil was once a spiny aquatic snail with a low spire and a rapidly expanding shell.
The gastropod Spiniplatyceras could once be found in Ohio about 360 – 419 million years ago during the early to middle Devonian Period.
According to, Statehouse Fossils: A guide to fossils of the Ohio Capitol, the Spiniplatyceras was a parasite of crinoids and would attach to the top of the crinoid and feed upon its waste. Some relatives of Spiniplatyceras gastropods may have also drilled through the skeletons of crinoids and blastoids (another type of stalked echinoderm) to steal food from their hosts. The large spines would have protected Spiniplatyceras from predators while it was exposed atop the echinoderms and perhaps afforded some protection for the crinoid or blastoid as well.
The term gastropod derives from Greek words for “stomach” and “foot.” Indeed, many gastropods creep on a large, ventrally-located, foot-like appendage.
Statehouse Fossils-A guide to fossils of the Ohio Capital. Mark E Peter. ODNR Division of Geological Survey. Page 18.Location
* Untyped Location
Kelley's Island State Park
