Seashell Identification

The phylum mollusca (commonly called mollusks or molluscs) is made up of invertebrate animals - or animals without a backbone. This page is about the shells of mollusks that live in ocean water, but many mollusks also live in fresh water and on land, such as the snails you see in your yard.

The gastropods are mollusks with a shell. They are snails or slugs and usually move about, in their protective shells, using a strong "foot". They have mantles that cover at least part of the shell and rub on it which makes it smooth.
Univalves are the ones who make shells all in one piece - like the conch, whelk and auger.
Bivalves have shells that are hinged, or in two sections - like the Turkey Wing (Arca zebra) shell in this picture.

**Squid, octopus and cuttlefish are also mollusks, but have no shell and they are the cephalopods which means that their feet (tentacles) are attached to their head. An interesting mollusk, that is a cephalopod and lives inside a shell, is the Chambered Nautilus.

♦ Queen Conch ♦ Lightning Whelk ♦ Jingle Shells ♦ Slipper Shells
♦ Worm Shells ♦ Chambered Nautilus ♦Auger ♦ Starfish ♦Sand Dollar
♦ Cowry or Cowrie ♦ Turkey Wing ♦ Junonia ♦ Pen Shell ♦ Murex
♦ Lettered Olive ♦ Cone Shell ♦ Fighting Conch ♦ Horse Conch

I remember there being quite a lot of these (on the right in the photo) lightning whelk (Busycon contrarium) seashells on Sanibel Island when I visited, but most of them were occupied by the owner.

At the time I had no idea what they were, so I didn't pay any attention to which side the opening was on, but the common lightning whelk has it's opening on the left side and is therefore called a "left-handed" shell. (Hold the shell upright by it's pointed bottom) See it compared to the opening of a crown conch (on the left in the photo) and you can see the difference between the two.
They eat clams and other bivalves by prying the shells open with their strong "foot" and eating the meat inside. I have found a site that has some very interesting information concerning the whelk shell. Read about them at the "Guide to Northeast Florida Whelks". And see a photo of a RARE Lighting Whelk which opens to the right instead of left. They also have photos of the animals living inside each of the four types of whelks.

Know for their shiny, porcelain- like texture, the Cowry (Cypraeidae) can be very small or quite large. The ones in this photo are 3 and 4 inches long. The small shells are often used to make jewelry and one species, the Money Cowry (Cypraea moneta), has been widely used throughout history as currency.

Click this link and go to my blog page to read more fun facts about the Cowry shell.

Photo: The Measled Cowry (Cypraea zebra) is upside down to show the "teeth" and the darker colored one is a Tiger Cowry.

What are mollusks? They are the creatures that live inside the shells that they made themselves. They are invertebrates (have no backbone) and can live in the sea or on land. In fact mollusks are found almost every place on earth, including in trees and on mountains. Squids and octopus are marine mollusks that do not make shells.

Read more interesting facts about the variety of mollusks here.

Concology is the branch of zoology about the study of mollusks and shells.

Check it out: Amazing Moluscan Facts! - Lots of good info.

The Queen conch (Strombus gigas), is also known as a pink conch or Caribbean conch. It is one of the largest gastropods and has a long lifespan of 30-40 years. The shell is very thick and heavy in the older mollusks. The beautiful pink shell is not the only thing sought after, the meat of this mollusk is used for many dishes in the tropics including areas of Florida.
In the 1970's tourism to the Caribbean area (and Florida) increased so greatly that the presence of this large conch was depleted rapidly as it was used for it's conch meat and shell beauty. In fact many online sites will have a note about not being able to sell the Pink Conch shell to you.

Read more about Queen conch at the NOAA Office of Fisheries, Office of Protected Resources.here.

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These bivalves, the Turkey Wing (Arca zebra) are small but unmistakable shells with their longish shape. They look like angel wings with brown stripes.

Shown here with a coquina shell (Donax variabilis) which was used as a building material in Florida.

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Jingle shells are small, translucent, shells. They are practically flat and it's possible to wonder if they are a shell or something else.

Actually the jingle shell is a clamshell. They are generally 1 or 2 inches in width and come in various colors such as black, yellow, white and orange.

They are almost always a single half - with no connected parts - when found on shore and the reason is most likely that they attach themselves to a solid object in the ocean and the top breaks off and washes on shore once the animal dies. This information comes from Patricia B. Mitchell, in her article "A Jingle (Shell) in Your Pocket".

Interesting Info about the Jingle Shell
* They get their name from the jingling sound they make if you collect a bunch.
* They have been called "Mermaids' toenails".
* They get their shape according to the item they attach to.
* Also known as saddle oysters.

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I have olive shells that are gray, tan, and even yellow gold. I have a separate page dedicated to the Olive shell family where you can see more of my pictures, so please click the link below to read more about this glossy, tightly coiled shell.

Although these were collected from Florida beaches, this shell is found from Canada to Texas and also on the Western coast of the US (according to my reference book), as well as parts of Europe.

These small, arched shells have a shelf underneath which protects the animal inside. The can be found in an array of colors as you can see in my photo. I have white, tan and dark gray ones.

When turned upside down, the shell looks like a slipper. It is sometimes known as a "Boat Shell".

The Common American Sundial (Architectonica nobilis) is a fairly common marine snail found on both the east and west coasts of the U.S. extending down to Brazil and Peru. They grow to be 2 1/2 inches in diameter (6.4cm) and the one shown here is 2 inches. They are relatively flat and are pretty on top and bottom (bottom view shown).

The Auger is a small shell- only a couple of inches long. I found a blog "North Carolina Sea Shells" and they have some great photos of this shells home owner- who it seems is not the original maker of the shell....turns out, it's a hermit crab!

Hermit crabs take over shells once they are empty and this is supposedly what is pictured coming out of the Auger.

My kids have had hermit crabs as pets (we fed them peanut butter!) and we have seen them change shells, which was very exciting since it's difficult to tell when they will decide to "move". But as they grow they have to have a larger shell to accommodate their bodies.

The Auger -apparently called the Eastern Auger, Atlantic Auger, or Common Auger can be seen at this site.

They can be found from Virginia to Brazil. Mine was collected from an eastern Florida beach.

The Florida Fighting conch has a heavy duty shell and is fairly easy to find on the west coast of Florida. It also lives up the east coast to North Carolina and all along the Gulf Coast.

The shell can be 4-5 inches long and it is "thick" compared to most other similar seashells. A close relative is the West Indian Fighting Conch which is a little smaller. The inside is an orange or brownish purple color.Read more about the "Florida Fighting Conch"

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These tiny shells are pink, green and white and come in many shapes, but are about the size of my pinky fingernail. They are often used to make jewelry, cover boxes and picture frames and for many other crafts.

This large murex is part of my collection and is about 5 inches long. I didn't find it on a beach, but bought it at a shell shop. Read more about the Murex (Muricidae) family on my blog.

The Murex can have various shapes and the Cabrit's Murex has a long "tail" with spikes all the way down. See a picture of one on the "I love Shelling" blog (scroll down the page). They are hard to find in good condition because they are fragile and the surf usually destroys the spikes.

The Giant Eastern Murex can be found at the shore, but is more likely picked up by scuba divers or trawled in deep water. It can be 5-7 inches long and mine is possibly one of those.

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The coquina is a tiny shell and when visiting the Florida beaches you will most likely see live coquina's digging their way into the sand when the waves recede. They are prevalent in Florida and can be found in many various colors. This little shell has an important place in Florida history because coquina rock was widely used as building material since there were no rocks in the state.

A famous, historical structure that was built of coquina rock is the Castillo de San Marcos, a Spanish fort in the old city of St. Augustine on the east coast of Florida.

An interesting fact: In Ancient times the Noble Pen shell, found in the Mediterranean Sea had threads "sea silk" that were used to weave into fabric. Very few people still use the threads for cloth. The pen shell is often broken when found on the beach. It's shell is thin and fan shaped. I recall finding this shell along the eastern beaches of Florida and didn't think it was especially pretty, although I did collect the ones shown here.
Read about the other types of pen shell such as the Saw-toothed pen shell, Amber pen shell, and Stiff pen shell.

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The worm shell gets it's name because of it's loosely coiled shell, and not because it contains a worm.
The Variable worm shell can be found in giant masses where colonies of thin, long shells grow together to form a rock looking mound. I have a small piece of a worm shell cluster (see picture below) that I found at the beach in Florida.

If you are interested, you can read more about the worm shell at these sites:
Archerd Shell Collection
Worm Snails Aren't Worms

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All I've been able to find out about the shell in this picture is that it is a Strawberry Conch (Strombus luhuanus). It's not a cone shell like I was thinking, according to Dave, who left a message here, it is a relative of the Atlantic queen conch and Pacific spider conch.

I don't have a cone shell to show you, but there is an excellent page about cone shells at Marine Life Photography.com which contains pictures of living and cleaned shells and the writer makes note of where they were found (mostly in Hawaii) and how deep in the ocean they were located.

An interesting note about cone shells is that they can be very poisonous and the geographic cone snail has been known to kill humans!
For more photos of this type of shell visit Coneshell.net where you'll see hundreds of them. Click on the "Gallery" link, and then the numbers at the bottom, to see the photos. If you are serious about shells and know their scientific names, you can go to the "Collections" area and see the shell by clicking on the left hand link. Quite impressive.

Sea urchins are not shells, but are related to the sea cucumber. My sea urchin (pictured here) is small and brittle and has a little piece missing out of the side. Echinoderms are more apt to be found broken because the animal's outer covering is not as tough as the shell of the mollusk.

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Sand dollars can be flat or puffy and only appear white once the animal inside the outer skeleton has died and the remaining "test" (the part we love to collect) has been laying around on shore and been bleached by the sun.

A live sand dollar can be brown, yellow or purple and is fuzzy looking. Live ones should be left at the ocean.

Read more about "The Sand Dollar" which is not a seashell.

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