Gallery - Shoreline

Books and stuff for sheashore

Books and other stuff for helping you id shells etc.

Banded Wedge Shell (Danax vittatus)

Up to 3cm. Distictly oblong with umbo very much off centre. Shiny yellow to brown outside, with or without darker bands, and purplish or yellowish inside. Sand near low-tide level.

Common Cockle (Cardium edule)

Up to 5cm. White to mid-brown with 22-26 corse ribs. Two main teeth close to the umbo. Abundant in mud and sand from the lower shore downwards, including estuaries.

Common Limpet (Patella vulgaris)

Up to 6cm in diameter. Shell conical and more or less circular at base. Those on highest parts of shore are taller than those further down. Greenish-grey or brown, pearly white inside. Foot more or less circular.

Common Mussel (Mytilus edulis)

Up to 10cm.hinged on front. Brown, blue or black. Attached to rocks and stones by tough, horny threads, usually exposed places where currents bring plenty of food.

Common Otter Shell (Lutraria lutraria)

Up to 14cm. Distincly elliptical. Dirty white to pinkish, with brown outer skin which flakes off in patches. Gapes slightly at each ens. Burrows deeply in sand and mud.

Common Periwinkle (Littorina littorea)

Upn to 3cm. Dark greenish-grey or almost black, sometimes with paler bands. Shell thick. Browses on seaweeds on rocks and stones at around low tide.

Common Whelk (Buccinum undatum)

Up to 12cm, with short curved siphon canal. White to sandy grey. On sand, mud and stones. Eats carrion and also preys on bivalves.

Oyster (Ostrea edulis)

Up to 15cm. Almost circular.Grey with rough concentric growth lines.Left valve bowl-shaped and fixed to rocks and stones. Right valve flat and forms a lid. From low tide level to depths of about 50m.

Queen Scallop (Chamys opercularis)

Up to 9cm. Almost circular with a straight toothless hinge and slightly unequal "ears". One valve slightly more convex than the other. Yellow,through orange and brown. 18-22 prominent ribs. lies freely on coarse sand, swims by flapping valves

Razor Shell (Ensis siliqua)

Up to 20cm. Open both ends. Hinged near one end, with 2 large teeth and dark external ligament. Lives vertically in sand and burrows very quickly.

Scallop

Found on Dawlish Warren beach

Slipper Limpet (Crepidula fornicata)

Up to 6cm long. cream to brown, often spotted with red. Resembles half a bivalve shell, but with a thick white plate extending half way across the underside. Often found in "chains" with three or more shells fixed together. A filter feeder. Introduced from America.

Flat Topshell (Gibbula umbilicalis)

Cream or greenish with reddish-purple strips, found middle shore on rocks and in pools.

Cuttlefish Bone

The Cuttlefish is seldom seen since it lives in deep water but its bones are often washed up on the shore.

Whelk Egg-case

Whelk Egg-cases resembling a bunch of shrivelled grapes often get washed up in storms.

Mermaids Purse

This is a egg case of a small shark, often called a Dogfish.

Toothed wrack (Fucus serratus)

Sometimes called Saw wrack, grows at bottom of shore where it only has a short exposure to the air each day.

Common Starfish (Asterias rubens)

Up to 30cm across, pale yellow through to red, to violet. Tube-feet with suckers.

Sunstar (Solaster pappous)

Up to 25cm across, Purple or red with 8-15 arms, tube-feet with suckers.

© Simon Thurgood 2010
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