WORDS OF A FEATHER Seashells found on Venice Beach in Florida. 38 Story and photo by HEATHER SHIRLEY On a recent morning, I took my dog to the beach near my home in Florida. We witnessed a scene of absolute unfettered joy and abandon: a man and his dog, lying side by side on their bellies on the beach, digging a hole in the sand together. They both were grinning from ear to ear. How very sporting, to let your best canine pal choose the morning activity. How very luxurious, to spend that precious commodity of time doing something so purely fun and silly. Inspired, I decided to let my dog direct the morning’s activities. Not surprisingly, she wanted to wander and sniff, so we did. Her nose glued to the ground, she trotted from seashell to seashell, curiously sniffing each before following an invisible trail to the next. Was she smelling the shells’ former inhabitants? Could she differentiate the species by their smells? With fanciful evocative names like moons, olives, volutes, ceriths, augers and wentletraps, shells come in a vast range of colors, sizes and shapes. Shells found on ocean beaches or along lake shores are the exoskeletons of mollusks. Mollusks comprise the second largest phylum of animals, with more than 100,000 species. They are invertebrates and include everything from snails and slugs to chitons, clams, scallops, squid, octopus and more. Although so widely varied, mollusks share a LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2023</strong> Scan the QR code with your phone’s camera to hear the sounds of life at the seashore. She Sniffs Seashells by the Seashore common characteristic. They all have a mantle, which is a soft layer of tissue covering their bodies. In many mollusk species, the cells in this special tissue produce an outer shell using proteins and minerals, mainly calcium carbonate and aragonite. The mollusk’s mantle is a miniature construction site, with proteins establishing a framework (like rebar) and minerals binding to the protein rebar frame and building shape around it (like cement). As a mollusk grows, it keeps its shell—unlike crabs and lobsters, which molt their shells annually and grow entirely new ones. Mollusks continue to build the shell they were born with, making it bigger and bigger to accommodate its larger soft body. The animal adds to the shell along its outer layers. The result is growth rings that measure the age of a mollusk, much like the rings of a tree trunk. Just as with tree trunks, scientists can read these layers of shell growth to gain clues about the ocean and environment the shell grew in. Temperature, salinity, oxygen levels, even events like volcanic eruptions or hurricanes are recorded in the way the rings of the shell grows. Each shell has three layers that look and feel vastly different because the proteins and minerals are different in each layer, and they bond in different ways. The outer shell is Landscape Lighting 973-208-0967 www.HomesteadLawnSprinkler.com 5580 Berkshire Valley Road., Oak Ridge, NJ usually rough, can have spikes or ridges and can come in a rainbow of colors. The middle layer is crystalized minerals so it is very strong. The innermost layer is connected to the mantle itself. Called nacre, or mother of pearl, it is smooth, shiny and sometimes iridescent. Humans have long been attracted to both the beauty of seashells as well as their strength and versatility. Shells have been crafted into tools for millennia, and they have inspired art for at least as long. People made beads from shells as far back as 100,000 years ago. Sometimes beads were crafted into jewelry; shell necklaces have been found in Stone Age graves in France. Beads crafted from quahog clam shells were also used by northeastern Native Americans as a means of recording events or agreements. Known as wampum, these beads became Massachusetts’ first official currency in the 17th century. Shells are symbolic in many religions. I recently hiked part of the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage culminating at the cathedral of Campostela de Santiago in northern Spain. This church houses the remains of Saint James, who is symbolized by scallop shells, and the entire pilgrimage trail is marked with them. As proof that they completed the route, pilgrims would carry a scallop shell for the rest of their lives. Ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as certain people of Africa, believed seashells were symbols of fertility. Hindus revere whelk shells that curve to the left as symbols of the god Vishnu. Right-curving shells are sacred to Buddhists. Indeed, the ways we value and use shells seems as varied and numerous as the species that produce them, or the number of shells washed up on beaches. When I contemplate all that seashells have meant to people across the ages, it inspires a sense of wonder in me. That small souvenir you picked up on a stroll down the shore represents a terrific amount. What a lovely reminder it is, humbly sitting on your desk or windowsill, of how we are all connected—to each other and to nature. A beautiful, simple seashell. CREATE A DRAMATIC EFFECT LET US INSTALL FOR YOU LED LOW VOLTAGE THAT MAKES YOUR LANDSCAPING CALL US TODAY FOR COME A FREE AT ALIVE HOME ESTIMATE NIGHT! Landscape Lighting Dramatic Effect CREATE A THAT MAKES YOUR LANDSCAPING COME ALIVE AT NIGHT! 5580 5580 Berkshire Berkshire Valley Valley Road Oak Ridge, New New Jersey Jersey 07438 07438 973-208-0967 www.HomesteadLawnSprinkler.com Proud Sponsors of Rebecca’s Homestead, Inc. a 501 © (3) www.facebook.com/rebeccashomestead www.rebeccashomestead.com
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