If you go downto the BEACH today...
…dive into this charming vintage guide to shell-spotting – the surprise cult book of the summer
WE all remember the childhood thrill of collecting shells on the beach. Not only could filling your bucket provide endless hours of entertainment while on holiday, but also a glow of satisfaction as you returned home with your haul.
If you thought you were far too grown-up now for such pastimes, think again: a classic 1960s book on shell life has just been republished, reigniting enthusiasm for a great tradition — and it’s proving to be the cult book of the summer.
Publisher Faber had a huge hit with the reissue last year of a 1954 classic, The Pebbles On The Beach: A Spotter’s Guide, by geologist Clarence Ellis.
Now it is doing the same for shells. Originally written in 1961 by scientist Philip Street of the Marine Biology Society, the new edition of Shell Life On The Seashore comes with a colourful fold-out jacket and new introduction.
Philip Street gives us the biography of each creature, from barnacles to oysters, cockles to sea slugs, winkles to carnivorous snails. Use this guide to seek out and identify these natural wonders of the seashore…
Common limpet (Patella vulgata)
THESE cling so tightly to rocks that the same force needed to pull a 30kg weight may be necessary to remove them. It’s thanks to a particularly large foot (most molluscs have a muscular structure called a foot, used to move, dig, feed or attach with) that lets the limpet hold on even in the stormiest of seas. The conical shape also withstands the full force of the waves. Like many other shore gastropods (snails and slugs), it is vegetarian, feeding on seaweed sporelings. If there were no limpets, mid-shore rocks would be covered with weed and there would be no room for other animals, like acorn barnacles and mussels. It is thought that limpets can change sex, as nearly all young limpets are males while older ones are nearly all females.
Edible scallop (Pecten maximus)
OF THE four scallop species inhabiting Irish and British waters, the largest is the edible scallop, whose shell may reach 12.5cm in width. It is widespread in shallow offshore waters, particularly along the south coast.
Next to the oyster, it has the highest reputation with gourmets. The only other scallop species that is eaten is the queen scallop (Aequipecten opercularis), half the size and distinguished by both upper and lower valves (shell halves) being convex. The scallop shell is perhaps more beautiful than any other mollusc and much used by artists, such as in Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus.
Razor shell (Ensis ensis)
OF ALL the bivalves (molluscs) that burrow in sand, none is better adapted than razor shells and no others have so perfected the art of moving fast.
Razor shells are unmistakable: the largest species is about 17cm long and 2.5cm or more wide and its shape approximates a very narrow rectangle.
They are widely distributed on sandy shores near the low-water mark, positioned vertically with their ‘feet’ facing down. The slightest vibration causes them to sink into the sand at amazing speed; the only hope of getting a specimen is to approach with extreme caution.
Fan mussel (Atrina fragilis)
LARGEST of all European bivalve molluscs. The shell is an elongated triangle, over twice as long as broad, and often 30cm or more in length. Found in shallow water, usually partially buried in an upright position, anchored to stones well beneath the surface by a long, very strong byssus (bundle of filaments).
The wide hind end projects several centimetres above the surface so an inhalant water current can be drawn in. Shells are horn-coloured, thin and brittle, and the hind end does not close completely. One of Britain’s rarest and most threatened mollusc species.
Dog whelk (Nucella lapillus)
OF THE dozen or so species of carnivorous snails found around our shores, this is the most common and best known. No other snail shows such a range of colouring, with white, yellow, pink, pinkish-mauve and black ones.
The shell has two other distinguishing features: its wall is much thicker than other snails, and the aperture is crossed by a prominent groove, the siphon groove, connected with respiration. In earlier times, used by crofters to dye tweeds.
Common cockle (Cerastoderma edule)
THOUGH buried a couple of centimetres below the sand’s surface, the cockle is mobile and fixed to nothing. Its foot is a well-developed, powerful organ with which it can plough through the sand, horizontally or vertically, with considerable speed.
With its radiating ribs, the cockle is an easily recognisable bivalve shell. The shell also shows concentric growth lines.
In summer, while food is plentiful, shell is laid down rapidly. Slower winter growth shows as a narrow ring.
Native oyster (Ostrea edulis)
THE aristocrat of all molluscs: a luxury food and provider of most of our pearls. Generally it is found in sheltered bays and estuaries where the bottom is covered with rocks, to which the shell valve is firmly attached by special cement.
In breeding season, each female produces as many as one million eggs. The majority are devoured by other creatures, with only a minority surviving into tiny oysters. The European oyster has an ability to change sex, which it may do many times in its lifetime.
ADAPTED from Shell Life On The Seashore by Philip Street (€10.99, Faber) © Philip Street 2019.