home, but leave the rest for others to 

 enjoy, says Lundie Spence, North 

 Carolina Sea Grant's marine education 

 specialist. 



And unless a person is a serious 

 collector or a researcher, there's no 

 reason to collect a living animal just 

 for the shell, says Spence. The 

 procedure for removing the animal can 

 be tedious and often ends up damaging 

 the shell. If you forget about the 

 mollusk and leave it in a jacket pocket 

 or car trunk, the smell will linger long 

 after vacation has ended. 



There are several alternatives to 

 taking live mollusks from inlets, 

 offshore waters and below the tideline 

 on the beach. You can take their 

 pictures. Or you can relax and enjoy 

 watching the animals as they feed, 

 slide about and fight off enemies. 

 Those who enjoy writing can take 

 along a notebook and record their 

 impressions of the animal's behavior 

 and habitat. That's what naturalist 

 Rachel Carson did when she wrote 

 "The Edge of the Sea" and "The Sea 

 Around Us." 



Later, you can read and reminisce 

 about that blustery day after a storm or 

 that warm afternoon spent wading in 

 tidal pools, looking for the perfect 

 shell. 



Learning the names of shells 

 makes a trip to the shore more satisfy- 

 ing and exciting, says Buddenhagen. 

 Instead of seeing pretty, nameless 

 objects strewn along the shore, you 

 recognize familiar old friends. And 

 when that unusual specimen turns up, 

 it sends you scurrying for your shell 

 guide. It changes a walk down the 

 beach forever. 



For information about the N. C. 

 Shell Club, contact Betty Muirhead, 30 

 Queens Grant Circle, Shallotte, NC 

 28459, 910/754-5216. 



Hugh Porter's popular shell 

 guide, "Sea Shells Common to North 

 Carolina, " is being revised. It will be 

 available from Sea Grant in late 

 spring. E3 



The Animal Inside 



The whole animal, shell included, 

 is called a mollusk, which means "soft- 

 bodied." But not all animals with shells 

 are mollusks. Barnacles, lobsters and 

 crabs have a type of shell, but they are 

 arthropods, which are more closely 

 related to insects. Conversely, not all 

 mollusks have shells. For example, the 

 squid is a mollusk with only a small, 

 thin piece of chitin inside its body, 

 and the octopus is a mollusk with no 

 shell at all. 



Shells can be divided into two 

 main types: bivalves and gastropods. 

 Bivalves, such as oysters and clams, 

 have two shell sections connected by a 

 hinge. Gastropods, such as whelks 

 and moon snails, have a single shell 

 that usually grows in a spiral. The 

 spiral is open on one end where the 

 head and foot emerge. 



Most bivalves eat by filtering food 

 from the water. Gastropods have 

 toothed, tonguelike radula. Herbivores 

 may use the radula for scraping plants 

 off rocks. Carnivores may use it to 

 rasp animal shells. Omnivores use it 

 for both. 



To find specific shells, learn 

 where the mollusk lives. The oceanfront 

 is scattered with shells of marine 

 mollusks; soundside you'll find the 

 shells of brackish water mollusks. A 

 mollusk's food preferences will also 

 provide clues to where it might be 

 found. For example, marsh peri- 

 winkles, which are herbivores, climb 

 up and down the stems of marsh 

 grasses. Moon snails, which are 

 carnivores, burrow in the estuarine 

 sands of tidal pools and inlets where 

 they are likely to encounter prey. 



The thickness of the shell offers 



information about the animal's habitat 

 and lifestyle. The fragile angel wing 

 protects itself by burrowing into the 

 hard mud in sounds and feeds by 

 extending siphons above the mud 

 surface, bringing in food particles with 

 the water. The small but hardy 

 coquinas burrow just below the sand's 

 surface at the tideline, so each wave 

 uncovers them and washes them 

 farther up the beach. 



Mollusk movement depends on 

 the species. Most gastropods move 

 along the bottom by sending a series 

 of ripples through their broad, 

 muscular foot. Others have a foot that 

 they use to pull themselves along or to 

 burrow into mud. Some bivalves, such 

 as mussels, spin a strong thread called 

 a byssus to anchor themselves to rocks 

 and plant stems. Other bivalves, such 

 as oysters, cement themselves to a 

 hard surface and remain there for life. 

 Scallops perform the most spectacular 

 bivalve movement. They "swim" in a 

 zigzagged course by clapping two 

 valves together, ejecting water out of 

 the back of their shell. 



Many of North Carolina's 

 mollusks, such as oysters, scallops and 

 clams, are commercially valuable. 

 Although none of the state's mollusks 

 are toxic, some have an unpleasant 

 taste or are too small or uncommon for 

 commercial harvest. Tiny coquinas 

 make a delicious broth but are too 

 small to be harvested economically. 

 Americans usually find arks and 

 bittersweets too bitter. Apart from 

 coastal restaurants that offer fritters or 

 stew made with local whelks (often 

 called conchs), there is no real market 

 for North Carolina gastropods. □ 



COASTWATCH 13 



