Mollusk shells.

Mollusk Shells

The ground in Rodanthe is littered with oodles of these mollusk shells, each no more than a quarter of an inch across. I wish I knew what creature they belonged to, or how they got there.

Today we drive home, and the vacation is over. At least, until our next Outer Banks vacation in two weeks.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

7 replies on “Mollusk shells.”

  1. Hmm… if only we knew a paleontologist who specializes in mollusks.

    Jay says they’re snail shells… and his dad’s a scientist, so genetically he’s an expert.

  2. They’re snail shells. I used to see them (with snail) all the time in the last large city I lived in, when they managed to make it out from beneath someone’s nearby bushes onto a walkway.

  3. Wow. The amazing thing is that I didn’t see a single snail while I was there. But I did see thousands and thousands of their abandoned shells.

    I wonder if they’re found elsewhere, but their shells are carried there by birds? Or maybe they’re found right along the beach, and the odd hurricane washes all of their shells up on the grass, where they take many years to break down into calcium?

  4. I know that slugs will crawl into a bowl (placed near delicious garden plants) filled with beer and get tipsy and drown. Maybe that is where the snails went, sans shell?

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