# Shell identification **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959 "2004-02-13T01:39:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/1 "2004-02-13T01:39:35Z")
Can someone identify [this shell](http://pw1.netcom.com/~heliboy/shell.jpg)? I think it’s a scallop, possibly a weathervane scallop. I found this shell on the mudflat of Birch Bay, which is on the Strait of Georgia in northern Wasington. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/2 "2004-02-13T01:59:25Z")
It looks very much like one half of a [Van Hyning’s Cockle](http://www.sanibelflorida.com/seashells/vanhyning.htm), _Dinocardium vanhyningi_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/3 "2004-02-13T02:19:07Z")
Hm. You’re right, it does look like that. And I’ve heard there are cockles in these waters. There are also supposed to be scallops. I know there are clams and oysters inshore, and the flats are cuvered with mounds from little (25mm-30mm) brown conical shells. Okay, here’s another one: As I walked on the flats, I noticed there were circular depressions scattered around that interrupted the rippled mud. They range from about 100mm in diameter to about 400mm in diameter. I noticed one depression that indicated whatever was under the mud was moving in an arc about three-quarters of a meter long. I stood for a while at the lower end. There was a persistant fog of silt at the top (lee) end. I’m sure I saw something come out of the mud and slide back – like an eye checking me out. Does this sound like a clam? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/4 "2004-02-13T02:57:15Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > It looks very much like one half of a [Van Hyning’s Cockle](http://www.sanibelflorida.com/seashells/vanhyning.htm), _Dinocardium vanhyningi_. [Wrong ocean though](http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesSH.asp?curGroupID=9&shapeID=1080&curPageNum=5&recnum=SS0066): > [@](#): > > Van Hyning’s Cockle (D.r. vanhyningi), a subspecies found in southwestern Florida, is more elongate and oblique and more vividly colored. It might be a [Nuttall’s Cockle](http://library.thinkquest.org/15931/shells/shells03.html), _Clinocardium buttalli_. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/5 "2004-02-13T03:13:11Z")
Heh. And here I thought this would be a Linux thread. “bash…no, no, tsch!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Macphisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Ms\_Macphisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Macphisto)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/6 "2004-02-13T05:03:49Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Okay, here’s another one: As I walked on the flats, I noticed there were circular depressions scattered around that interrupted the rippled mud. They range from about 100mm in diameter to about 400mm in diameter. I noticed one depression that indicated whatever was under the mud was moving in an arc about three-quarters of a meter long. I stood for a while at the lower end. There was a persistant fog of silt at the top (lee) end. I’m sure I saw something come out of the mud and slide back – like an eye checking me out. Does this sound like a clam? Sounds like a geoduck. They’re clams that tunnel under the sand and can move pretty fast, though I have to say that an eye isn’t the part of the human anatomy that’s normally used to describe them. Every year when I was in elementary school we went on field trips to the White Rock beach and some of the kids would go digging for them but they geoducks almost always got away. Supposedly they’re tasty, so if you felt like it you could go digging for geoducks for dinner. I don’t think I’d be able to get past the [appearance](http://www.wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/beachreg/2clam.htm) though. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/7 "2004-02-13T15:07:37Z")
I’d heard there are geoducks out there. I’ve never been clamming. I’ll have to get a friend to show me how to do it. Or better yet, show me where the oysters are! ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/8 "2005-11-09T02:21:11Z")
Is there a good page out on the web to identify seashells? My wife and I just got back from Japan where she bought an odd shell. It looks like a cluster of purple tulips. I think its from a worm. But the wife doesn’t believe that something so nice could be made by a creature so disgusting. So I need a way to settle this. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/9 "2005-11-09T02:25:34Z")
Damn, I was doing a search on this subject and inadvertently replied to an old topic. ---
**Author:** ![EvilGhandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@EvilGhandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilGhandi)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/10 "2005-11-09T07:25:17Z")
**E-Diddy** I think it’s ok to use this thread since you already opened it. What you and your wife have sounds like a purple barnacle. Does it look like this? [http://www.sealifegifts.net/Purple-Barnacle-Cluster-327.html](http://www.sealifegifts.net/Purple-Barnacle-Cluster-327.html) ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shell-identification/228959/11 "2005-11-10T05:26:04Z")
> [@EvilGhandi](#): > > **E-Diddy** > > I think it’s ok to use this thread since you already opened it. What you and your wife have sounds like a purple barnacle. > > Does it look like this? > > [http://www.sealifegifts.net/Purple-Barnacle-Cluster-327.html](http://www.sealifegifts.net/Purple-Barnacle-Cluster-327.html) Bing! Thats it. Thanks. I may have paid more for it in Japan than I could have gotten it for on that website.