Found September 2026 on the ocean side of the southern tip of Topsail Island at New Topsail Inlet, exposed on the beach around low tide. Approximately 4 inches across. Trying to determine the bivalve species and whether it is modern/Holocene material or a Pleistocene or older fossil. It contains extensive boring and calcareous worm-tube encrustation
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Hey there,
Very neat specimen! I am in agreement it is one of the two contemporary Mercenaria species, though I can’t tell you with certainty if it is a Southern Quahog (Mercenaria campechiensis) or a Northern Quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria), or even a hybrid of the two. It has definitely been around for a long time with that condition, and beachcombing finds are fairly difficult to peg down with certainty age-wise if they’re of an extant species, but all that in mind I’m more of the opinion it is a Holocene subfossil over a Pleistocene fossil. There are “calcified” Mercenaria from Late Pleistocene shelly coquina material in the nearby Onslow Beach area and much further south around the Carolina Beach area (particularly around the area closer to Snow’s Cut), but they are usually part of a conglomeration of different fossils and are a bit dense as well as still somewhat colorful.
-Tony
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