# Any conchologists out there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 1999, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623 "1999-09-28T07:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@Jimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimpy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 1999, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/1 "1999-09-28T07:46:00Z")
I recently renewed my childhood interest in collecting seashells and decided to catalogue them on my computer. Of my small, but growing collection, only a few shells gave trouble when trying to identify them. One of them, and I probably shouldn’t admit this because it makes me look a tad inattentive, was the left handed whelk, once it clicked into my brain that it was _left handed_ I figured it out quickly. A few others were apperantly immature species which I got form someone who couldn’t tell me where they came from and are hard to pin down exactly, although I can make some quesses. The final one, and this one has me stumped. It’s pictured here– [http://jimpetty.home.netcom.com/shell00004.jpg](http://jimpetty.home.netcom.com/shell00004.jpg) It’s 2.5 inches long and if you put a gun to my head and said I have to pick a species,I’d say the Dart Turritella {_Turritella Radula_) but it doesn’t have anywhere near enough radial ribs and the coloring is way, way to discrete to be that. It does have an angular whorl cross section like the dart turritella, which is unlike most other screw shells, but that’s about it. Can anyone help me?? Thanks * * * **Jim Petty _An oak tree is just a nut that stood it’s ground_** ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 1999, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/2 "1999-09-28T12:36:00Z")
Sugarcone. Not Nabisco®, perhaps Sunshine®? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 1999, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/3 "1999-09-28T12:42:00Z")
I think they’re vampire fangs. Or maybe horns for the rare seahorse-unicorn. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 1999, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/4 "1999-09-28T13:49:00Z")
Nah… They’re Bugles, those horn-shaped crackers. Stuff 'em with cheese… Yummmmm! * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 1999, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/5 "1999-09-28T14:00:00Z")
I know what Freud would say about them… ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 1999, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/6 "1999-09-28T22:44:00Z")
What I want to know is - what’s that thing next to them? Looks like some kind of pantyliner. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 1999, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/7 "1999-09-28T23:42:00Z")
You stole that shell, didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Jimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@Jimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimpy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 1999, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/8 "1999-09-29T00:53:00Z")
> [@](#): > > What I want to know is - what’s that thing next to them? Looks like some kind of pantyliner. It’s an “inventory control tag” whose purpose is to get the shell to sit like I want to. The shell is only two and a half inches in length, (as mentioned in the original post). That would be an awful small pair of panties that needed lined. * * * **Jim Petty _An oak tree is just a nut that stood it’s ground_** ---
**Author:** ![Jimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@Jimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimpy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 1999, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/9 "1999-09-29T00:55:00Z")
You know, when I posted this I really didn’t expect an answer, but I though the “smart” answers would be in refernce to the left handed whelk, not the shell itself. * * * **Jim Petty _An oak tree is just a nut that stood it’s ground_** ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 1999, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/10 "1999-09-29T01:09:00Z")
I would guess that there aren’t many people out there in the world who are clued up about shell identification, so the chances of someone being on this board are pretty slim. I wonder how many websites are dedicated to the subject? I think I’ll go look. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 1999, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/11 "1999-09-29T01:45:00Z")
Aha! So you did steal that shell! ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 1999, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/12 "1999-09-29T01:46:00Z")
all I know is that there is a species of left handed shell with the specie name of “pulleii” I know this because my last name is Pulley and the finders last name was Pulley (no relation) but everyone in my immediate family has a shell on display… we are a VERY scientificly oriented family… haha. * * * The wisest man I ever knew taught me something I never forgot. And although I never forgot it, I never quite memorized it either. So what I’m left with is the memory of having learned something very wise that I can’t quite remember. -George Carlin ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 1999, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/13 "1999-09-30T00:00:00Z")
Cobchologist? Well, I’ve shucked oysters for a hotel, & shelled a fortified town. Does that make me a conchologist, Mr. Twain? 😉 * * * We have met the enemy, and He is Us.–Walt Kelly ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 1999, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/14 "1999-09-30T01:57:00Z")
Is this your own photo of the shell in question or something you got from another source? Negatives of photos have been known to be reversed when published. Also, how does rotating one of your photos in the OP 180 degrees change it from the other picture? It looks like the spirals will go from “lower left to upper right” no matter how you spin it. To be the “other-hand” shouldn’t the spirals go from "lower right to upper left? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 1999, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/15 "1999-09-30T02:05:00Z")
I just reread the OP and all I can say about my response above is “never mind”. For some reason I was thinking the question was about left-handed v. right handed shells. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 1999, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-conchologists-out-there/3623/16 "1999-10-02T01:32:00Z")
I don’t know what the website is, but you might want to contact the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum here on Sanibel. They have a large collection of shells, and they may be able to help you out. The phone # is 941-395-2233. Hope they can help. * * * “I like Florida; everything is in the eighties. The temperatures, the ages, and the IQs.” – George Carlin