If you are a member of the North Carolina Shell Club and would like to see your shell or shell-related photographs posted on this site, submit them to the webmaster.

 

During their 2008 dive trip to Nassau, Anthony Wall
took the above photo of the Flamingo Tongue at about 50 feet. Vicky took the one of the Lion Fish (below) at about the same depth. Vicky writes, "The Lion fish are well established in the Bahamas and when we were on the dive, there were some biologists catching as many as they could for study and removal from the reef. They were pretty common. Good news....the biologists told us that grouper love to eat them, but there aren't enough groupers to keep up."

~~~~~

Junior Club member Hannah Rotman and her Grandmother, Maggie Rotman collect shells on Portsmouth Island, spring, 2008
on one of the club field trips.
The pile of shells was about 99% giant quahogs
but was still impressive to behold.

~~~~~

Member Nancy Timmerman created this lamp using a large, polished chambered nautilus shell and a cast, molded from her hand. Tiffany and Co. lamps made a century ago, using green snails as shades provided inspiration for this her design.


Photos should be of good qualiy, uncropped and not reduced in size. This will be handled prior to placement on this page. Please include a brief description or any caption information you would like to see accompany the photo. If, for any reason your photo is unsuitable for use, you will be notified.

 

A different shell collecting opportunity?
John Timmerman purchased this horse conch from a fish market in Wilmington in August. The store owner had taken it as bi-catch in flounder nets set in shallow water at night in Pender County. He sells them for food but the animal had died so he could not sell it for that purpose. John bought it for the shell. At 16.68 " length it is a large example of the species for North Carolina. The market has not had any more specimens of this size since.  

~~~~~

The following photos and accompanying explanation are from member Everett Long

On April 30th (2009) I was asked to meet a friend at Dudley's Marina to help in an ID of a shell he had just got. It seems that he was fishing 57 miles south of Beaufort Inlet where he caught a dolphin. Upon checking the stomach of the fish to see what bait he may use, he came upon a shell with a squid like animal attached.  It turns out to be an Argonauta argo, Linne 1758 ( paper nautilus). It must have just been caught for the animal, although dead, was intact and the shell was gem condition. The stomach acids had not done any damage except kill the animal or he had a heart attack when he saw the big fish. I took some pictures and he came by the house were I filled out a data sheet for him and gave him a case to display this great find. He did agree to have it displayed at the shell show if the club wants it (he said it must be returned.) Now, that dolphin was one fine shell collector.

~~~~~

Here is a note submitted by Art Bogan about another Paper Nautilus:

A recent Paper Nautilus from Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina

The Paper Nautilus or Argonaut is a pelagic cephalopod found mainly in tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. Like most octopods, they have a rounded body and eight arms. The shell is constructed of calcium carbonate and is secreted only by the female for the protection of her eggs. A limited number of Paper Nautilus shells (Argonautaargo Linne, 1758) have been reported to have washed ashore on North Carolina beaches (Porter, 1974). This recent specimen, female and egg case, was not found on the beach but in the stomach of a Dolphinfish (Coryphaenidae: Corpyphaena hippurus Linnaeus, 1758). It was collected by Chris Stewart, NC Department of Marine Fisheries, 8 June 2009and is now cataloged as NCSM 48757. This is the second Paper Nautilus from North Carolina collected this past year. Everett Long also collected a similar female Paper Nautilus in good shape with the shell attached from a Dolphinfish stomach caught south of Beaufort Inlet, NC in April 2009 (Doug Wolfe, Pers. Comm. 20 January 2010)

Porter, H.J. 1974. The North Carolina Marine and Estuarine Mollusca: an atlas of occurrence. University of North Carolina, Institute of Marine Sciences. 351 pages.


Figure 1. Picture of the Paper Nautilus as it was removed from the stomach of the Dolphinfish. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Fritz Rohde, NOAA

 

Arthur E. Bogan and Jamie M. Smith
Mollusks
North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences
11 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601

~~~~~

Karlynn Morgan submitted the following photo:

 

Vicky Wall poses at the 2009 Jacksonville (FL) Shell Club's shell show with Scientific Judge, Bill Lyons. She is shown holding her latest award, the club's prestigious R. Tucker Abbott Award which she won with her exhibit, "Methods of Shell Collecting"