Fossil Facts > Gryphaea (Devil’s toenail)

Gryphaea are commonly referred to by their nickname ‘Devil’s toenails’.  This is because people used to think that these strange-shaped objects looked like the horrible toenails of the devil that he left behind when he walked on the earth.  Actually, these fossils are an extinct oyster. Oysters are bivalves, one class of animals that make up the molluscs (along with the snails (gastropods) and the cephalopods (like ammonites, belemnites, squid, octopus) and many others).

They’re grey in colour with lines ornamenting their shell indicating the growth bands.  They can be found loose in the shingle as well as also in some types of rock.  When they appear in the limestone rocks they have usually been broken through and they look like white commas or apostrophes in the rock.