Presently we see Bivalves washing away the shore day and night but, their origin does not start right from here, it traces back millions of years ago.They have inhabited our earth for over 500 million years.Though Bivalves flourished through the seas of Mesozoic and Cenozoic era, Palaeontologists believe that bivalves first appeared by Mid- Cambrian. Fossilized Bivalves we see today formed when the sediment in which they got preserved turned into a rock. Many of the living bivalves helps us to understand their (fossilized Bivalve) Morphological behavior.
Bivalves which belong to the Phylum mollusca and the class Bivalvia/Lamellibranchia had two hard, habitually bowl shaped shells ( called *valves* ) enclosing the soft body. In fossilized ones you find them with only valves rest of their soft body, elastic hinge tissue that joins mostly decays and rarely gets preserved. These are small organisms who have the perfect key to let you in through the prehistoric times.
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