Lamp shells are animals that look superficially like bivalve molluscs but are in a phylum all of their own called the brachiopoda. Once abundant in Earth's prehistoric oceans, today they thrive only in Antarctic waters, though a few species survive elsewhere. Some lamp shells are living fossils: organisms that have survived unchanged for millions of years. Instead of spawning, a few species brood their eggs inside the shell, releasing larvae into the sea when they've hatched.
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