CAL3103 Price: $180
CALCITE in Mercenaria permagna
Rucks’ Pit, near Fort Drum;
Okeechobee County, Florida, USA
Large Cabinet (13.3 x 13.2 x 7.9 cm)
This is a very nice, single Mercenaria “side” clam, aesthetically framed in a dark gray micritic limestone matrix. “Side” clams are found in matrix lying on their sides, rather than in an upright, “living” position. They usually have smaller but better internal coverage of calcite crystals. This one is one of my best, with lustrous golden yellow transparent to translucent calcite crystals to over 1 cm in length. The calcite is fluorescent blue-green under shortwave and longwave UV light (see photo), and even phosphoresces for a few seconds when the UV light is extinguished. These specimens are Plio–Pleistocene in age (1–2 million years old).
