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Gifts From the Sea
| Article
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18200 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1990 |
861 Words |
| Author
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Ann Sabatini Blask
Ann Sabatini Blask is a free-lance writer from Orchard Park,
N.Y. |
Mollusks were one of the first primitive animal groups to appear on the earth, some 500 million years ago, and their shells have evolved into fascinating forms that have captivated man for centuries. In some cultures they are still used as religious symbols and good-luck charms. Others have used them as jewelry or money. Wherever man has had access to the sea, there has been an attraction and often a reverence for certain shells. Primitive tribes in the Indian Ocean worshiped the Pecten jacobaeus (St. James Scallop) as a symbol of love and fertility. Cowries also had a certain mystique. In parts of Africa, if a man were lucky enough to collect several thousand cowries, he would buy himself a bride.
Why such fascination? "I think it's because they're beautiful part of nature," says malacologist R. Tucker Abbott, one of America's foremost authorities on seashells, "And they're free."
Seashells are also one of nature's unique creations. Conchologists estimate that there are over 100,000 living species of mollusks. As each animal creates its own protective cover form body secretions, the variety in design is infinite. Size is equally varied. A shell can be as small as a pinhead or weigh up to several hundred pounds.
Regardless of size, seashells are the protective armor of mollusks, whose soft bodies rely on these outer shells, or skeletons, for defense against predators, reefs, and other treats to survival. The color and design
Of that skeletal cover serves primarily as a natural camouflage. It may also be its aesthetic quality that attracts collectors in search of an exquisite souvenir. Artistic curves, spiny formations, high gloss and brilliant colors make them works of art.
The outer beauty of a seashell is only half of its charm. The inner structure of a shell can be equally artistic and eye-catching. An x-ray view the inner chambers of nautilus, for example, shows off its dozen or more symmetrical chambers. Even tritons sometimes used as makeshift bugles, reveal a stunning intricacy within. [For more on the nautilus, see "Chambers to the Past," THE WORLD & I, October 1988, pp. 196-99.]
Seashell shapes - both inside and out - seem to have had an influence on civilization. Conchologists speculate that the Japanese pagoda was designed after the Thatacheria mirabilis, a shell common in Japanese waters. It is also
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