Wedding Cake Venus Clam

Have you ever wondered what the sailing ships took back to England after they had transported boatloads of convicts out to Van Diemen's (nowadays Tasmania)? Beautiful sea shells of course, to excite the imagination and empty the purses of the wealthy gentry as they eagerly purchased specimens for their Cabinets of Curiosities. The Wedding Cake Venus Clam (Bassina disjecta) was one of the first of such species to get back to England; it caused an uproar with its graceful and elaborate sculpture and creamy hues. Ancient molluscs (those greater than 200 million years ago) had simple designs compared to todays shells. During the Mesozoic and Cenozoic times, new and more elaborate designs evolved and many of these diverse forms are still around today.