How to recognise them

Spirals or coils, sometimes in the shape of a cone.

Fossil Info

Gastropods are snails - animals with a hard coiled shell. They live on land, in freshwaters (lakes and rivers) and in the ocean. The shell is spiralled or coiled, sometimes vertically into a cone shape and sometimes horizontally along a flat plane. Fossil gastropods from the Carboniferous are mostly marine. 

Fun Fact

Some fossil gastropods from Ireland are bigger than the palm of a man’s hand!