Most of the shells in the pictures are found by myself on the beach, but some of them are bought in naturalistic shops. Tip if you want to gather your own shells: you can find the most shells at low tide.
This picture contains the following shells:
- Small, double, pink shell: Thin tellin (Tellina tenuis)
- Long, white shell, down the thin tellin: False angelwing (Petricolaria pholadiformis)
- Big, double shell, center: Pullet carpet shell (Veneruptis corrugate)
- Three, pointy white ones, bottom center: Common wentletrap (Epitonium clathrum)
- Long, blue one, left, with barnacles on its shell: Blue mussel (Mytilius edulis)
The scallops in this photo are from a naturalistic shop. So is the cone snail in the center. Unfortunately, I don't know the species of this shells. The other shells are Blue mussels (Mytilius edulis).
This is an American razor shell (Ensis americanus). I picked this one up, because of the barnacles on the tops of both blades.
This oysters have some strange holes in their shell. I first tought the holes were caused by some predatory snails, but there are so many! Whatever it was, I like them and I think they are very inspiring.
I am not sure what kind of oyster this is, but I think it is a Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas). This is one of my favourite shells.
These small Netted dog whelks (Nassarius reticulatus) have some barnacles on them. I have a lot of those small snail shells, but only a few have barnacles on their shell.
.jpg)
Sometimes, I have a lucky day and find shells like this: a Common whelk (Buccinum undatum). They are not very rare, but only now and the you find an intact shell (most of them are broken, and you find just small pieces). Look how big this one is, compared to the small Netted dog whelk!
Finally I have a picture of three empty carapaces. They are from common littoral crabs, the Carcinus maenas. You may think the empty sockets are a bit spooky, but these carapaces are one of my favourite objects.
