They secreted a shell that was made up of two halves that enclosed most of the animal. Each shell, or valve, had bilateral symmetry. Brachiopods were incapable of actively pursuing food. Their sessile, or motionless, way of life put great limits on their feeding ability. They were filter feeders, meaning they pumped water through the cavity between the valves and extracted the nutrients.
Most brachiopods live below the low tide level in seawater with normal salinity.
Outcrop of Cashaqua Shale near Buffalo, New York Mucrospirifer Mucrospirifer is one type of brachiopod found in the Cashaqua Shale and Ellicott Shale. It lived during the Middle and Late Devonian. Mucrospirifer is much wider than it is long. The hinge has extremities that extend into sharp points. The Mucrospirifer's valves are convex.