Photo: Fossil Oyster

This fossil oyster is on display at the Mangapohue Natural Bridge Scenic Reserve in Waitako on the North Island of New Zealand.

The fossil oyster is an ancient shell which grew to be an enormous size and that puzzles many paleontologists to this day. If you look closely at the fossil oyster, you can tell how old it is by the rings that surround the inner shell, the same method that you would use to tell the age of a tree.The fossil oyster is one of the world's most studied due to the speed of its growing cycle. Trying to find out why the oyster evolved in the nature that it did is one of those befuddling things that may never be solved. Paleontologists have been researching the fossil oyster for thousands of years and have yet to come to any conclusions on its growing process.To get a closer look at this fossil oyster, visit the Mangapohue Natural Bridge Scenic Reserve in Waitako on the North Island of New Zealand. A farmland in this Scenic Reserve has some prime examples of the fossil oyster embedded in the limestone outcrops. ... continue below the picture...

... Fossil Oyster at the Mangapohue Natural Bridge Scenic Reserve, Waitako, North Island, New Zealand.