Received wisdom says don’t do it, shell collecting is wrong.
Although we may admire or even cherish their colours, patterns and textures, shells are not trinkets. Once the original owner has gone, they are necessary to the marine eco-system and the survival of other sea creatures.
The shell in this featured image is a Terebra subulata (Linnaeus, 1767) which I found floating on the sand under a fishing boat on Gili Asahan, Lombok. It’s 900mm in length.
I’ve been beach-combing and mucking about in rock pools for as long as I remember. Jam jars filled with sea-glass, pebbles, shells and shrimps regularly accompanied the family back home from damp weekends in Hastings or Bexhill. Pett Level, with its petrified forest at low tide was my personal Nirvana.
Back at home in London, the shells lost their shine and the tiny shrimps searched for a way out as they changed colour and slowly died. I am afraid to say I was the murderer of many an innocent crustacean.
You’re no longer allowed to remove anything from beaches in the United Kingdom.
How Animals Make Use of Empty Shells
Hermit crabs have no shell of their own to protect them, so they make empty shells their home. As they grow, they move on to larger accommodation.
The coconut octopus sometimes hides in the sand, and if it can’t find a coconut husk, will use a shell for shelter. I watched one peeking out from a clam while diving in the Lembeh Strait.
Most octopuses use shells as camouflage. As do decorator crabs, who stick them to their bodies with their bristles. Some species of urchin also cover themselves in shells. Although this behaviour is not entirely understood, the theory I like best is that they use them as armour while being rolled around in the waves.
Of course, small fish will hide under and inside shells to avoid predation too.
The Ultimate Upcycled Material?
Apart from their obvious use as someone’s home, old shells eventually break into fragments and particles to become sand. And sand is important stuff, it’s home to millions of living things.
Clams and scallops, urchins (like the sand dollar and sea potatoes shown here), sea stars, worms, crabs and all kinds of insects and micro-organisms call sand their home.
There are 250+ species of Clypeasteroida, aka the sand dollar shown in the image below. In the urchin family, it burrows into sand becoming visible at low tide when the beach is waterlogged.
In Lombok I have found beaches strewn with them in various stages of life and death. How do you know if they are dead and safe to pick up? One sign is colour. After death they lose all colour and look like the ones in my image. If you inspect them close-up, the tiny spines which cover the animal will be moving if it is alive.
I have not been able to confirm which species this one is, can you identify it? It measures 540mm in diameter.
You Can Be Prosecuted For Shell Collecting
In many countries you will be prosecuted for selling, buying and exporting shells. Around the world, the powers that be have gradually made shell collecting difficult, because of these restrictions.
So why do I see them everywhere (and not just over here in southeast Asia)? They pop up as jewellery all over the world (often in well-known stores), are used for embellishment on textiles, and there are countless knick-knacks covered in shells on sale everywhere. Is it because this kind of prosecution is way down the list of priorities for most worldwide overworked enforcement agencies.
These days, I take photos of the best specimens I find and throw the rest back into the sea. The problem is that I still have some on the boat and I need to make a decision about what to do with them.
My heart says, “Just keep your favourites, Liz,” but my head says, “Put ’em back”.
What would you do?