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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.
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.
Club Members pose for a group photo wearing authentic clothing from Oman donated to the club by the Bosch Family.
Omani clothed "runners" wait to deliver the prize shells to the winners of auction items from the special shells of the Bosch collection being auctioned by John Timmerman. Photo by Grace Minior
Aidan displays the very nice Horseshoe Crab he discovered on the club's collecting trip to Shackleford Banks on Saturday during the May 2017 Meeting. Photo by Grace Minior
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Family shell collecting on Portsmouth Island, Spring, 2008
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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.
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Vicky Wall visited Hilton Head Island in August 2015 and visited the preserved ruins of the Stoney-Baynard plantation house.
These plantation walls made of tabby concrete are all that remain of the Stoney-Baynard Plantation house, located on Hilton Head Island in Sea Pines Plantation. The plantation home was built around 1810. It was destroyed by fire soon after the Civil War. The ruins and 5280 acres were purchased by the Sea Pines Plantation Company in 1956. In 1966 the 9 acres encompassing the ruins were preserved as open space and this site on the National Register of Historic Places.
Tabby concrete was made by burning oyster shells to create lime, then mixing it with water, sand, ash, and broken oyster shells. Sometimes the shell tabby was covered with plaster. Tabby construction was valued as it resisted burning, which was a huge risk during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
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These images of a Paper Nautilus were found on Facebook and included the following caption: "Beach Find -- This rarely seen Paper Nautilus shell was found intact on the beach along side Jennette's Pier over the weekend." This was around the first weekend in December, 2015. Images used with permission. Jennette's Pier is one of the NC Aquariums - the fourth one to be opened - and is located in Nag's Head. http://www.jennettespier.net/
Photo of 12-14" Horse Conch found by Brady Semmel during low tide on the intracoastal waterway near Figure Eight Island. Nice!
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Click HERE for a lovely photo essay by Vicky Wall on the Club Field Trip to Cumberland Island in February, 2016 Click HERE for an interesting look at fossil collecting at Maryland's Calvert Cliffs in April, 2018 presented by Dora Zimmerman
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.
Arthur E. Bogan and Jamie M. Smith ~~~~~ 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" ~~~ Dave Tanner has sent in the following photos which he photographed with a Canon 5D camera, 100mm Macro Lens, f200, ISO 100 and two speed light flashes. All of these shells are found in the Indo-Pacific area:
Shin-bone Tibia - Tibia fusus (L. 1758), very common and can be found in most shell shops. I believe I purchased this one in a shell shop in San Diego, California.
Dave says, "I purchased these in Okinawa, Japan around 1990. Several dealers and traders can be located in and around the island." Venus Comb Murex - Murex pecten Lightfoot, 1786
Bednall's Volute - Volutoconus bednalli (Brazier, 1878)
Lambert's Scallop - Anguipecten lamberti (Souverbie, 1874)
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Vicky Wall has submitted a series of three photos showing "bleeding tooth" nerites from around the world: Nerita peloronta from the Bahamas, Nerita scabricosta from Panama, and Nerita signata from Fiji.
Nerita peloronta
Nerita scabricosta
Nerita signata
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Here is a photo of an especially nice Gold Ringer Cowrie which Vicky Wall collected on her recent trip to Fiji.
Here is an interesting photo submitted by Vicky Wall: A Thorny Oyster growing inside of another Thorny Oyster. A shell displayed during a Florida shell show by Doug Thompson, collector.
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.
During their 2008 dive trip to Nassau, Anthony Wall | |
