Seashells, captured at one of the beaches at the Space Coast, Florida
A
seashell, also known as a
sea shell, or simply as a
shell, is the
common name for a hard, protective outer layer, a shell, or in some cases a "test", that was created by a sea creature, a
marine organism. The shell is part of the body of a marine animal. In most cases a shell is an
exoskeleton, usually that of an animal without a backbone, an
invertebrate. Seashells are most often found on
beaches.
The word seashell is most often used to mean the shells of
marine mollusks, i.e.
mollusk shells. It can however also be used to mean the shells of a wide variety of other marine animals from various different
phyla. For helpful introductory articles, see
marine invertebrates and
marine biology.
As well as marine mollusks, many other kinds of
sea animals have
exoskeletons or even internal shells which sometimes, after death, wash up on the beach and may be picked up by
beachcombers. These shells include remains from
species in other
invertebrate phyla, such as the moulted shells or
exuviae of
crabs and
lobsters, the shells of
barnacles,
horseshoe crab shells, the tests (
endoskeletons) of
sea urchins,
sand dollars and
seastars,
brachiopod shells, and the shells of marine
annelid worms in the family
Serpulidae, which create calcareous tubes cemented onto other surfaces.
Seashells have been admired, studied and used by humans for many different purposes throughout history and pre-history.
Hi my friends,
today we have learned something about seashells. I have copied this text from Wikipedia, it doesn't comes from my brain - I'm not that smart....*smile*....
Thank you for all the kind comments from yesterday. I see, not to many people liked or know the Italian Maestro "Zucchero" and his smoky soft voice. That's not a problem at all, I do love him :))
I wish you all a wonderful day filled with sunshine, everywhere you go!
See you again tomorrow, here on this spot. :)
Susanne
I have a new website.
I'm still working on and uploading more photographs every day.
You will make my day. Thanks.