Seashells by Millhill

Collecting Seashells: Grouping the Bivalves

The bivalve seashells, or shells that come in two parts or halves, can be similar in appearance, but not all bivalves are “clams”. I’m not scientifically minded, but I’ve been learning the difference between the shells I collect and photograph.

I’ve gathered some photos of the more common bivalves I see on beaches and in the saltwater rivers around my area of Florida. A general bivalve list includes: clams, oysters, scallops, cockles and mussels.

Clams and Arks

My photos below in this section contain various types of clam shells. Also, there are many types of Venus clams and loads of coquina clams. Shells called “arks” are also clams.

quahog clam living alive hefty shell — Tagelus clam shell

ark shell with brown stripes — Ponderous Ark

broad ribbed cardita shell underneath — The broad ribbed cardita, measures about an inch in length.

broad ribbed cardita bivalve seashell — The broad ribbed cardita, measures about an inch in length.

Oysters

I rarely collect oyster shells but we see oyster beds while out on our boat. Oyster shells are sharp, and are the scourge of boaters because they can slice up the underside if a bed is accidentally hit while running. While walking the flats in oyster areas I can hear the shells snapping as they feed.

oysters attached to tree roots — Oyster Shells

Scallops

Scallop shells can be some of the prettiest shells. Certain types of scallops have one flat side and the other is normal / rounded. The concave part is in the sand or bottom and the flat part is on top and opens like a flap when the scallop is alive. Scallops propel themselves around by opening and closing their shells.

The Kitten Paw and larger Lion’s Paw shells are also scallops. I found these Kitten Paw shells while visiting Sanibel Island on the Gulf coast. I’ve never seen any where I live on the east coast.

Types of scallop shells — 2 inches across

kitten paw seashells — Kitten’s Paw Scallop Shells

Cockles

Cockles are not clams although they look similar. Because they have an oval shape with high top part (umbo), when a whole cockle is viewed from the side it resembles a heart. For that reason, they are known as the heart shell or heart cockle.

bivalve cockle shells — Atlantic Giant Cockle Shell

inside the giant cockle shell — Atlantic Giant Cockle Shell

Mussels

Mussel shells are something I rarely collect or photograph because they really are not great looking shells. They are dark colored and shaped like thin fans. The pen shell is distantly related and I have a few pictures here. The pen shell can be nearly a foot in length and is more impressive than a mussel.

mussel seashell — Open and empty mussel shell

part of a pen shell on the beach sand — Pen shell next to my son’s foot

shells found at beach — Pen shell next to my son’s foot

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Pictures of the Beach at New Smyrna and Ponce Inlet

We went to the beach for a few hours and I got to visit Ponce Inlet and look for shells. Since my son likes to fish from the beach, he drops me off by the jetty (picture down the page) and drives back down the beach. He’ll park about a mile away so I can travel the inlet beach and then walk to where he is fishing.

This gives me some time alone to beach-comb and then get exercise walking back to the truck. I like to fish, but not at the ocean.

The Dog Beach

The Ponce Inlet beach is also a dog beach. It was not crowded at all, but a few people had their dogs on leashes and were having a nice stroll. You can see the dog and people prints in the sand here. The tide was coming in, but there was still a lot of open beach to explore. I didn’t find many great shells, but did collect a few new scallops, which I love to find.

The Inlet is a wonderful place for photos. Any photographer would get some nice shots here. A few years ago I took a bunch of photos at low tide when the beach was full of ripples and tide pools. They are still some of my favorite pictures.

Rocky Jetty and Surfer’s Beach – Shark Bite Capital

As I left the inlet side of the beach I passed the rocky jetty. To the right of this jetty is the surfing area which is also known as the “shark bite capital of the world”. Surfers can be bitten by the black tip sharks that patrol these waters, but usually it’s a quick bite and they are gone. People rarely, if ever, die but they probably have memorable scars!

I was going to link to a video here, but the NatGeo video is so awful, I didn’t. Many of the images are NOT even from New Smyrna – just something they threw in! Boo on them.

Surfers are the ones that get bitten most often because they look like food to the sharks. Don’t swim where surfing takes place – you shouldn’t do that anyway. There is plenty of beach, so stay further south. Rip currents are a worst threat, so swim near lifeguards.

The high number of shark bites also correlates to the high number of people who visit this area and swim in the ocean.

surfing area of the beach — Young people on the beach watching their friends surf.

The waves were quite large and as I passed by the surfing area, I could see many surfers way out catching waves. My phone camera is not great, but there are a couple of surfers in some of these photos. I think they all fell just as I took the photo… LOL.

Some Things To Know About the Beach

If you plan to drive onto the beach, check the tides. At high tide you won’t be allowed on because the beach will be underwater. Plan to either park in one of the lots (that do cost money), or hit the beach at low tide.
It’s best to have a 4-wheel drive vehicle or you may – yes it’s likely – get stuck in the soft sand when you park. BUT… it’s easy to get help from fellow beachgoers and they will help push you out.
Swim near lifeguards, as there can be rip currents that are unseen.
If a thunderstorm is nearby you will probably be asked to get out of the water and leave the beach – by the beach patrol. Florida’s lightning can be deadly. Don’t travel to the beach on a stormy day, and that means go early in the day during the summer when storms will build all day long and become a problem in the afternoons.

The water temperature was in the high 80’s and this is in October. A few weeks later it had dropped by about ten degrees because the nights (and days) had thankfully cooled off.

A Visit to Flagler Ave and New Smyrna Beach Video

I managed to find a video by a young couple (and their adorable baby) who visited New Smyrna Beach via Flagler Ave., which is where they parked and walked onto the beach. A lot of the video includes their baby, Apollo – almost like a home movie – but the baby is so cute and the couple is very likable. They travel the world and have bunches of videos from their trips. If you are interested, view Chase for Adventure – Visiting the Shark Bite Capital of the World.

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Scallop Shells Collected on the East Coast

While photographing my newly collected shells the other day, I decided to re-photograph my pretty scallop shells. Florida waters can contain a variety of types of scallops, but the shells I find over here on the east coast are mainly the Atlantic Calico Scallop.

Ponce Inlet, Florida’s central east coast

While beachcombing in my area of Florida, the best shells are often found around Ponce Inlet and the jetty area. Because of the rough surf and strong currents many of the shells are broken, worn, or have turned black. When I say “best shells” I mean the most unusual or rarely seen while I search the sand. I sometimes find olive shells here, big angel wings, scallops, and bits of coral. On this day, I found a pretty little pink scallop and a couple that were blackened from being buried in the sediment for a long time.

Pink and Black Scallop Shells

gray scallop shell — Jetty rocks and barnacles

Ponce Inlet jetty rocks — Rock Jetty at Ponce Inlet in New Smyrna Beach

Rock Jetty at Ponce Inlet in New Smyrna Beach

Photographing Scallop Shells

Sometimes photos can show a clearer picture of the intricate details of a seashell. The calico scallop, when found before it’s colors fade or turn black or orange, is quite pretty. I have a few of those and you can see the color variety in my photo below. Colors tend to be off-white, cream and yellow with blotches of maroon and pink.

Notice that some of the “ears”, or protrusions at the front of the shell, have worn down or off completely on some shells.

I’ve taken some macro photos to show the ribs on the shells a bit better. Other types of scallops that can be found in Florida waters are the Zig Zag and Round Ribbed, Rough Scallop, Scaly Scallop and famous Lion Paw (very rare). The Bailey-Matthews Museum on Sanibel Island has come good photos Florida’s scallops.

The Round Ribbed and Zig Zag scallop have flat tops so as a bivalve each side looks different. You may find the colorful flat piece or the bottom, less colorful part. The Scaly scallop is more elongated and one of it’s “ears” is much longer than the other.

Bay scallops are now rarely found, according to the Living Beaches book (affiliate link to Amazon, new book version). Their ribs are more squared, but when I look at photos I can’t really see much difference between the Bay and Calico as far as shape. Because the Bay Scallop is now rare, I assume my shells are all Calico varieties.