Maryland s official fossil shell was sponsored by a Maryland senator. As a boy, he had collected Ecphora shells along Chesapeake Bay with his brother, who became a famous geologist. Finally, Ecphora gardnerae is the symbol of the Paleontological Research Institution. Snails are related to slugs, sea slugs, sea hares, limpets, and abalones. Together, these animals are called gastropods.
Most gastropods have a spiral shell into which the animal can retract.
Gastropods also have a head equipped with antennae, eyes, and mouth, and a large foot. Gastropods are the most common members of a group of animals called mollusks. Other mollusks include bivalves, such as clams and oysters, and octopuses and squids. Just as insects are the most familiar invertebrates on land, so are mollusks the most familiar invertebrates in the water. Most of its fossils are found along the coast, and these are mostly marine animals from the Cenozoic Era, or Age of Mammals.