THE QUEEN CONCH SHELL IS ENDANGERED : ETHICAL SEA SHELL COLLECTING

First, if the place you see the shell is a RESERVE, take photos but leave it on the beach. Even if it is not, it's best not to collect shells.

Second, DO NOT BUY SEA SHELLS FROM SHOPS. Often these shells have been obtained through dredging the sea bottom, upsetting the natural ecology.

Third, TRADE OR BUY ONLY THOSE SHELLS THAT HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED.

Fourth, Keep in mind that scientific sea shell collecting includes the date and place the shell was found and an accounting of the collection. This is data that may be useful to science. (You might tie it to weather research as well.)

Fifth, DO BEACH CLEAN UP INSTEAD. It's frustrating to have to clean up by other people who leave refuse on the beaches, to see broken plastic. Do it anyway.

 

PREHISTORIC SHELL TRUMPETS STILL MAKE SOUND!

DAILY MAIL : SCIENCE : PREHISTORIC SHELL TRUMPETS 

Excerpts: Amazingly, eight of the instruments still worked perfectly, with the loudest toot reaching 111.5 decibels - as loud as a powerful car horn or trombone.

Researchers believe that these trumpets would have been used as an ancient form of communication technology, with simple codes shared between communities.

These blasts could easily travel the three to six miles (five to 10 km) between the Stone Age villages where the horns were discovered.

They could have been used to communicate between different settlements, warning of attacks or coordinating harvest times.

Others, found deep within abandoned mines, might have been used to send messages through the underground darkness.


*** See the photos of the shells and read more about the archeology!

CAN YOU HEAR THE OCEAN IN A CONCH SHELL?

Can you? 

It's air trapped in the shell...

 

LEAVE IT ON THE BEACH

 

SCALLOP

 

SCALLOP

SEA SHORE ACTIVITY - SEA GULL SHELLS and a HORSESHOE CRAB

SHELLS SO BEAUTIFUL

ANCIENT SEASHELLS UNDER ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT PROVE TO BE STRIKINGLY COLORED - NOT DRAB AT ALL!

DISCOVERY - ANCIENT SEASHELLS SPORTED FLASHY COLORS  by Jennifer Viegas

Hendricks cleverly placed the drab-looking old shells under ultraviolet light. In doing so, the organic matter remaining in the shells, which date to 6.6–4.8 million years ago, became visible. It revealed the original coloration patterns of the shells that encased the large marine snails.

Using this technique, Hendricks was able to view and document the coloration patterns of 28 different cone shells, 13 of which are now suspected to be new species. One of the most striking examples was a polka-dotted shell. This unmistakable pattern is thought to be extinct among modern cone snails.

(Hendricks is a geologist)

SEA SHORE LIFE - SEA SHELLS - CAN YOU COLOR THESE A DIFFERENT WAY?

 

CAN YOU COLOR THESE SHELLS A DIFFERENT WAY?

SHOULD YOU BE COLLECTING SEASHELLS?

As a girl collecting and trading sea shells with other kids was a lot of fun.  Gradually I learned that a proper shell collection is not just full of shells you've IDENTIFIED but also information on when and where they were found.

If you went to any beach resort you could buy bags of sea shells.  Most of these shells were dredged from the sea.

Those were the days when people were not at all concerned about ocean ecology, under sea life, or the massive floating sea of plastic in the Pacific ocean.  (If you want to read more about the Sea of Plastic in this Google Blogger, use the search engine to bring up older posts!)

Once I started collecting shells I learned that dredging for shells was the way that many collectors got their specimens - and of course the animal that lived in the shell was killed.  There were instructions on how to kill it, and how to remove it's dead remains from the shell so it wouldn't smell.

These days I don't believe in collecting sea shells unless you find one already dead and washed up on the beach.

I believe we need to leave sea life where it belongs, in it's own ocean environment.

MAD ABOUT SEASHELLS - THE SMITHSONIAN

Did you know that our nation's biggest museum, the SMITHSONIAN, has the largest collection of sea shells?

LINKING HERE TO AN ARTICLE CALLED
MAD ABOUT SEA SHELLS!


click on title link

PEARLY SHELLS : THE WAIKIKIS

POPULAR SEA SHELLS COLLECTING : DO NOTE WHEN AND WHERE YOU FOUND THE SHELL

I collected sea shells when I was a child and I did so without ever going to the beach! Sea shells were TRADED in my neighborhood like baseball cards!

Now I know that a very important part of collecting sea shells is to carefully note when and where a shell is found. This can reveal important information about the life of shelled creatures under the sea including the effects of tides, fishing and pollution!

BAILEY MATTHEWS SHELL MUSEUM focuses on GULF COAST SHELLS and MOLLUSKS

Here's the link to a SEA SHELL and MOLLUSK MUSEUM in Florida that focuses on the sea creatures of the GULF OF MEXICO.

Now we would suggest that if you go to a beach to clean up and you find some washed up shells that you ASK someone - a teacher or the director of the clean up effort what you should do if you find sea shells. The scientists may want to study these rather than let you take them home.

REMEMBER THAT A GOOD SEA SHELL COLLECTOR ALWAYS identifies not only the shell, but the location it was found and the date.

SEASHELLS ARE NOT AS COMMON AS THEY USED TO BE - MAYBE IT's TIME TO JUST SKETCH THEM!

SEASHELLS are disappearing off the shores and going to the beach even in the early morning will not guarantee that there are shells to be collected. That means that there are fewer shelled sea creatures living under our oceans.

One of the reasons for this is dredging or harvesting shells by scraping the bottom of the sea and hauling them aboard a ship.

Limit your collecting to what you personally find washed up on a beach. Or take a sketch book with you and draw what you see!

It's lovely to have a row of jars full of beach finds - sea glass and holed stones - scallops and muscles - the occasional univalve - lined up on a shelf. These can be full of memories of a wonderful day at the beach. But remember sea shells are part of the natural world that usually reclaims itself.

DO NOT PURCHASE SEA SHELLS FROM STORES !

SHELL - UNIVALVE

The value of a sea shell depends on many things, including the year it was found and where. As a child I loved those bags of shells. As an adult, I know those shells are dredged up from the sea, and that many places that once had vibrant sea shell life off shore no longer do...

WHY DO YOU HEAR THE SEA IN A SEA SHELL ?

Here is the Highlights for Children magazine answer... click on the title above!

ACID ERODING SEA SHELLS

Is Acid in the oceans eroding precious sea shells? No more sea shells at the sea shore? Click on the title above to get to the story, "Rising CO2 Levels Acidifying Oceans, Threatening Sea Life."