Architecture has also copied the 

 beautiful designs of many shells 

 throughout the ages. The wentletrap, 

 whose name is derived from the Ger- 

 man word for spiral staircase, has been 

 duplicated countless times. Frank 

 Lloyd Wright, who designed the 

 Guggenheim Museum in New York as 

 a continuous spiral ramp, is quoted as 

 saying, "In . . . shells we see the hous- 

 ing of the life of the sea. It is the hous- 

 ing of a lower order of life, but it is a 

 housing with exactly what we lack — 

 inspired form. In this collection of 

 houses of hundreds of small beings, 

 who themselves built these houses, we 

 see a quality which we call invention." 



Mollusks have also been used in the 

 actual construction of buildings and 

 roads. Shells are composed of many 

 layers of calcium carbonate, which is 

 limestone. Years ago, crushed oyster 

 shells were used to make a mortar 

 which is called tabby. When Fort 

 Macon in Carteret County was built in 



Calico appears, 

 Renews mystery 



For several North Carolina fisher- 

 men, 1980 will be remembered for the 

 return of calico scallops and a boun- 

 tiful harvest. This year marks the first 

 landings of calico scallops in the state 

 since 1973. A mystery mollusk, the 

 calico still creates excitement with 

 each sporadic return. 



According to Jim Tyler, information 

 and education coordinator for the 

 North Carolina Division of Marine 

 Fisheries, the only productive calico 

 scallop bed in the state lies 17 miles off 

 Carteret County. "When the ex- 

 ploratory fishing research vessel, Dan 

 Moore, was monitoring the bed and 

 found the abundance," he says, "we of 

 course reported it to the fishermen." 

 The season opened in March, but the 

 supply lasted just a few weeks. 



"During the first week," Tyler ex- 

 plains, "approximately twenty boats 

 were working the bed, with more boats 

 coming in. For three days, our records 

 show that approximately thirty-six 

 thousand bushels were brought in, or 

 approximately twelve thousand 

 gallons, which sell for thirty dollars a 

 gallon at the markets." 



The occurrence of calico scallops in 



1826, tabby was used to bind the fort's 

 10 million bricks. The Spaniards used 

 coquina shells in Florida 300 years ago 

 when they built Castillo de San 

 Marcus in St. Augustine. Today, 

 limestone-rich shells are crushed and 

 used commercially for building homes 

 and roads. 



But man hasn't forgotten that first 

 experience of tasting the animal in- 

 habitating the shell. Mollusks are a 

 very significant part of the seafood in- 

 dustry and a food much in demand. In 

 1979, over four million pounds of 

 oyster, clam, sea scallop and bay 

 scallop meats were landed in North 

 Carolina. And, this year, calico 

 scallops were harvested off Carteret 

 County for the first time in eight 

 years. Advanced technology in manag- 

 ing and harvesting mollusks increases 

 landings each year. 



For species like the calico scallop. 

 North Carolina is the northernmost 

 range. But this colorful mollusk may 



Photo by Jim Tyler 



North Carolina is still a mystery, ac- 

 cording to Hugh Porter, assistant 

 professor of Marine Ecology and 

 Malacology at the University of North 

 Carolina's Institute of Marine Sciences 

 in Morehead City. The major beds are 

 found in Florida off Cape Canaveral 

 and in the Gulf of Mexico. Also, North 

 Carolina is the northernmost range for 

 the calico scallop. 



"The calico scallop, when it does oc- 



share its waters with other species 

 from New England or the Caribbean. 

 North Carolina has the unique distinc- 

 tion of being the dividing line between 

 the northern and southern marine 

 fauna. For the serious collector, this 

 means paradise of shells. Dredging, 

 hurricanes and winter storms wash in 

 many offshore mollusks, such as the 

 Scotch bonnet, that would otherwise 

 be inaccessible. 



The Scotch bonnet was declared the 

 state seashell in 1965 by the act of the 

 General Assembly. North Carolina 

 honored its early Scotch settlers by 

 choosing this pale-colored gastropod, 

 and became the first state to designate 

 an official state seashell. 



From the delicate coquina found on 

 local beaches to the crusty oyster, 

 mollusks and their shells have played 

 an important role in history. Though 

 relatively small in size, these complex 

 animals and their houses still stir our 

 imaginations today. 



cur in commercial quantities off the 

 North Carolina coast, will occur in 

 large, dense beds," Porter says. "We 

 do not know what causes those beds to 

 occur out there. Some of the dealers 

 and fishermen will tell you that once 

 they spawn, they start dying," he ex- 

 plains. "We don't know. We also don't 

 know whether the scallops repopulate 



Continued on next page 



Loaded down with calico scallops, this boat heads home 



