Treasures From
Our Seashore

The shells mentioned here are but a few that can be found locally on sound and ocean beaches. This is a short, short primer on shells -- just enough to tantalize your desire for more knowledge, which you can get from the field guides cited at the end of this close-up.

Shells are the exterior adornments of mollusks, soft-bodied animals that live inside the shell. When you find a shell on the beach, chances are the animal it housed has long disappeared. What you are retrieving is the exoskeletal remains of a snail, clam, mussel, whelk or any of the 700 species that live in North Carolina's ocean waters and estuaries.

The vast majority of the shells scattered on Crystal Coast beaches belong to one of two classes: bivalves, clam-like creatures whose shells consist of two halves attached by muscles and teeth; or gastropods, snails that live in a single coiled shell, often with a very obvious opening (aperture) where the animal can stick out its head to feed. Bivalves, as a group, are called clams, and gastropods are called snails.

Arks and cockles are bivalves. You'll see them nearly every day on the beach, but you won't often find both halves attached. Arks and cockles look alike. Both have scalloped edges and strong, well-grooved radiating ribs. The shells are cupped or curved. How to tell them apart, though, is the nifty thing to know. Their differences are easy to detect: on the inside of the ark you can readily see the teeth that keep the two shells attached; the teeth are short narrow perpendicular lines set in a noticeable ridge on both valves. Cockles, on the other hand, have widely spaced vertical teeth and very few of them compared to an ark. What you'll see on the cockle are the holes where the teeth once were.

Intact cockles are heart-shaped when you look at them from the side and are longer and thinner than the squarish, thicker arks. It's not uncommon to find a good specimen of the Atlantic Giant Cockle around here. The shell (3- to 5-inches long) is deeply cupped, so you can certainly see why primitive peoples found them handy as bowls and dippers.

Live arks in their habitat of ocean-bottom marine grass are covered with an outer "skin" called the periostracum that's dark brown or black, and often hairy. Beach specimens may show the remains of the periostracum, so it's not unusual to find a white ark with radial ribs partially blackened.

You'll see lots of oyster shells on North Carolina's ocean beaches, even though the ocean isn't their home. Ocean water is much too salty for their survival. But oysters are washed out to sea from their estuarine habitats and then back onto the beach along with other kinds of shells. Once you've seen an oyster shell, you won't confuse it with other bivalves. Oysters are narrow with irregular exterior ridges and can be up to 10 inches long. Some are white, with thin ridges resembling the bones in a mammalian foot. Others are slightly brownish, gray and cream, or purple, pink and blue with rough protrusions and depressions. (By the way, none of the oyster species found in North Carolina waters make a valuable pearl.) Most of the oyster shells you'll find on the beaches are single valves. In their brackish-water homes (such as the estuaries, inlets and bays Down East, and Carrot Island across from the Beaufort waterfront), you can find oyster clumps, where the oysters have attached themselves to one another, or to some other hard surface. Once attached, oysters stay in place for the rest of their lives.

The shells of quahog (CO-hog) clams are also common beach finds. Also known as the hard-shell clam, you can identify the shell by its rounded, tan to white exterior marked by fine concentric rings. The feel of the 4- to 6-inch shell is heavy and solid and the inside clearly shows the two slightly oval scars of the adductor muscles that hold the clam shut.

Like oysters, quahogs are a vital component of the state's commercial fishery. They are labeled by size; the smaller varieties (cherrystone and littlenecks, 1 to 1½ inches) are more tender and are eaten whole. The larger quahogs (3 or more inches) are usually chopped up and put into clam chowder.

One of the largest and oddest shells found in the area is the fan-shaped pen shell. Pen shells are fragile, translucent and scaly, with a ruffled bottom edge. Mostly what you'll find are shards of these shells, and you can spot them by their dark pearly interiors. Up to 10 inches long, pen shells are the only shellfish in North Carolina waters known to produce pearls. If you are lucky, you'll find a half shell fully intact. If you are extremely lucky, you'll find a whole pen shell, with both valves unbroken and still hinged together.

You're already familiar with the scallop shell; it's the logo of the Shell Oil Company. Scallop shells are perennial favorites of coastal visitors because they are abundant and come in many colors. The small squarish ridges at the top of the hinge are called ears. It's the ears that distinguish the scallop from other shellfish and makes it easy to identify. One of the prettiest scallops in the area is the Atlantic Calico. These decorative delights may display dark pink ribs with blotches of gray or dark yellow ribs with red spots. Sometimes the scallop's two valves are not shaped the same; one may be cupped and the other flat, so if you find a flatish half with ears, it's still a scallop.

Few ocean treasures are more striking than whelks, and North Carolina probably has more whelk species than any other area on the East Coast. Whelks are giant gastropods, or snails. The shells are cone-shaped with wide top shoulders and slim, tapering bodies. Locally, they can measure as long as 12 inches. The key thing is that they all have large apertures, or wide, elongated openings that unfurl to one side. The three whelk species commonly found here are fairly easy to tell apart. Hold the whelk in your hand with the opening facing you. The lightning whelk is the only one with its aperture on the left. You can identify knobbed whelk by the prominent, pointed knobs on the shoulders; the channeled whelk has smooth knobs and deep channels between the circular lines on the top. A completely intact whelk shell is a joy to find.

Whelks are harvested for their meat, and around here, whelk meat is often the "conch" in Carteret County's well-known conch chowder. Try the chowder in our restaurants; or better yet, persuade an Insider to make you some.

Olive shells are a treat to find. Cylindrical, smooth, highly polished, their narrow apertures run almost the entire length of a shell that may grow to 3 inches. The Lettered Olive, a common beach find, has reddish-brown zigzag markings said to look like script writing. When newly washed to shore, the markings and shiny exterior are easy to spot. After exposure to sun and surf, the Lettered Olive's shape remains the same, but the shell becomes dull and the letters disappear.

You'll know a moonsnail shell when you see it because it resembles the shells of land snails. The Atlantic moonsnail or shark eye is often washed onto local beaches. Its shell is smooth, round and plump, with a large elliptical aperture. It's usually a pale bluish or brownish gray and gets its name from the dark center circle that resembles an eye. Shark Eyes can reach a diameter of 3 inches and some beach specimens will still have an operculum, a trap door that closes when the gastropod is frightened, clinging to the aperture. Moonsnails are very fond of bivalves. Lots of the clean, round holes you'll see in a bivalve shell are made by moonsnails as they bore into the clam shell to eat up the creature inside.

These are just a small sampling of the shells available for your pleasure on the beaches of Emerald Isle, Atlantic Beach, Bogue Sound, Pamlico Sound. If you vacation at any of the Bogue Banks' hotels, you'll have plenty of opportunity to look for seashells. Fort Macon (see our Crystal Coast Attractions chapter) is an excellent site for shelling, as is Shackleford Banks, where you may find a sunray Venus, a beautiful glossy bivalve; or a tiny white auger that looks like a miniature ice cream cone. If you are enthusiastic about finding good specimens, take the ferry to North Core Banks and stay awhile in one of the units run by Morris Marina Kabin Kamps (see the chapter on Crystal Coast Accommodations).

Look for shells that are intact or nearly intact and try to resist picking up every one you see. If you do, you'll end up with bags and bags of shells that you won't know what to do with. Bear in mind that the best seasons to look for seashells are early spring after winter storms and September when hurricanes are active. The best time of day is an hour before or an hour after low tide. To help you remember your shelling excursions, keep a record of the date and location you discovered your shell treasures.

Thirsty for more? Consult these field guides. Seashells of North Carolina, by Hugh J. Porter and Lynn Houser; North Carolina Sea Grant College Program, Raleigh; Peterson Field Guides: Shells of the Atlantic, by Percy A. Morris, 3rd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.