Mollusks animal shells. Medical search. Frequent questions

Although looking at mussels might seem about as exciting as looking at rocks, they are actually amazing animals with many secrets yet to be learned! (nps.gov)
Mussels are bivalve mollusks (invertebrate animals with soft bodies inside a hard two-part shell) and are sometimes commonly called clams. (nps.gov)
Female black sand shell mussel tries to attract a fish to host her glochidia (baby mussels) until they can live on their own. (nps.gov)
For example, coral polyps form the foundation of coral reefs, which are home to 25% of all ocean species, and oysters, clams and mussels are an important food source for animals and people alike. (oceanconservancy.org)
Could this hypothetical mass extinction be reconstructed correctly from mollusks - hard-shelled animals such as oysters and mussels - preserved in these cores? (uncommondescent.com)
Submerged in clear and clean waters of rivers and lakes and ponds and streams around the world is a little known but incredibly diverse group of animals known as freshwater mussels. (karipearls.com)
Mussels extract minerals and turns them into shell material, adding one layer at time, called nacre. (karipearls.com)
For naming mussels he picks a characteristic of shell to help amateur identify them. (karipearls.com)
Mussels are known as bivalves because they live within two protective hinged shells, which are also called valves. (thehealthyplanet.com)
When it comes mealtime, mussels play quite a shell game. (thehealthyplanet.com)
As unusual as their feeding patterns might be, mussels have an even more fascinating reproductive trick up their shells. (thehealthyplanet.com)
Our results demonstrated that blood clams (Tegillarca granosa), thick-shell mussels (Mytilus coruscus), and Asiatic hard clams (Meretrix meretrix) accumulated significantly higher amounts of antibiotics in their bodies under antibiotic-MP coexposure scenarios. (bvsalud.org)
In addition, it was shown that the detoxification, energy provision, and antioxidant capacities of the thick-shell mussels were significantly hampered by exposure to the pollutants. (bvsalud.org)

The mollusc (or mollusk) shell is typically a calcareous exoskeleton which encloses, supports and protects the soft parts of an animal in the phylum Mollusca, which includes snails, clams, tusk shells, and several other classes. (wikipedia.org)
Some mollusks, including snails, use the radula to rake up food, such as algae off of rocks, Parry added. (livescience.com)
They differ from other mollusks like snails in that they have no hard outer shell. (howstuffworks.com)
Mollusks are among the most diverse of marine animals and include shelled creatures like snails, clams and slugs. (azocleantech.com)
One target is bacteria isolated from gastropod mollusks, or snails, particularly the highly venomous cone snails found in Philippine waters. (azocleantech.com)

Within some species of molluscs, there is often a wide degree of variation in the exact shape, pattern, ornamentation, and color of the shell. (wikipedia.org)
Now, the scientists can confidently say that the ancestor of all mollusks likely had one shell, just like the newfound species, they said. (livescience.com)
Because no other group of animals has a radula, its presence indicated that the newfound species was a mollusk, he said. (livescience.com)
We will emphasize biological nutrient and energy cycling, population dynamics, animal and plant species interactions, disturbances and response to disturbances, and ecology in urban and agricultural landscapes. (macalester.edu)
A rare example of an intact river-dependent group of animals, all of the mussel species that existed in the corridor before European settlement are present here today. (nps.gov)
Today, almost two-thirds of all mussel species in the United States are threatened, endangered, or already extinct.In order to protect the federally endangered species and the numerous state threatened species, it is illegal to take any live mussel or empty mussel shell from the St. Croix and Namekagon rivers. (nps.gov)
Unlike rhinoceros horns or elephant tusks, which are considered contraband, nautilus shells have no protection, and the threat to the species has gone largely unnoticed by the public, the article noted. (pressherald.com)
Such sophisticated tool use is only practiced by a handful of animal species. (britannica.com)
Lead researcher Paolo G. Albano, senior scientist at Italy's Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, uses empty shells to understand changes in species distribution over time. (latimes.com)
Chestnut cowries ( Zonaria spadicea , previously Cypraea spadicea ), like others of its species, are noted for their smooth, glossy shells. (cadivingnews.com)
The hotel gets its name from the Nudibranch, a species of soft-bodied gastropod mollusks known for shedding their shells after their larval stage. (yankodesign.com)
Evolutionary relationships of animal phyla are based on DNA and molecular evidence due to the lack of fossil evidence of ancestral species. (answersingenesis.org)
Porifera contains about 5,000 living species, including some of the world's oldest known animals, and some species can reach up to six feet in length. (oceanconservancy.org)
So, it's no surprise that arthropods account for many marine animals, including popular seafood species like crabs and lobsters. (oceanconservancy.org)
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. (fws.gov)
The project will concentrate its research in the Philippine archipelago whose waters are inhabited by an estimated 10,000 marine mollusk species, or about a fifth of all the known species, and are regarded by marine biologists as the world's epicenter of marine biodiversity. (azocleantech.com)
The wide-ranging Philippine Mollusk Symbiont International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups, or PMS-ICBG, project aims to provide new information to catalog and preserve these diverse mollusk species while providing scientific opportunities for the Philippines. (azocleantech.com)
The NSF supports basic research in marine science and biotechnology, and the DOE sees relevance to national energy needs because the shipworm, one species of mollusk the OHSU project will focus on, harbors bacteria that hold the promise of economically converting plant biomass into cellulosic ethanol, one of the holy grails in the quest for viable biofuels. (azocleantech.com)
Haygood, a scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography for 18 years before coming to OHSU, has worked on the microbiology of symbioses - the interaction between different biological species - for three decades and played a major role proving that bryostatin, an anti-cancer agent, is made by bacterial symbionts living in a marine animal. (azocleantech.com)
The first is the methodical collection, identification and cataloging of mollusk species from the Philippines, and making this information freely available on the Internet. (azocleantech.com)
This effort will be led by Gary Rosenberg, Ph.D., curator and chairman of malacology (the study of mollusks) and an evolutionary biologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, who already has developed a biotic database documenting more than 25,000 species of Indo-Pacific marine mollusks. (azocleantech.com)
Sanibel Island is home to hundreds of species of shells. (foxweather.com)
In Manatee County, shellers can collect no more than two daily shells containing live organisms of any single species except for oysters, hard clams, sunray venus clams and coquinas. (foxweather.com)
The study looked at a beach on the Mediterranean coast of Iberia, comparing shell species found from 1978-1981 to 2008-2010. (foxweather.com)
Only certain species of mollusks produce pearls. (biblekeeper.com)
Shirahi mentions that the problem was caused by having small samples of shells, and when larger samples are used you can really see the species continuum. (pearl-guide.com)
Each species has distinct features and shapes to its shell. (thehealthyplanet.com)
Most of the other species eat a variety of animals like sponges, squid and some vegetable matter. (inkart.net)
The venom of this species, however, aids it in subduing live prey like tiny birds, animals, and reptiles. (goldenspikecompany.com)

At the same time treefish and vermilion rockfish prefer to inhabit the bottom around rocky areas and principally feed on at mollusks, crustaceans, and small fish. (cadivingnews.com)
Double-check a shell does not have an inhabitant because shells are the homes and protective casings of mollusks or crustaceans. (foxweather.com)
The scientific name refers to the four large teeth, fused into an upper and lower plate, which are used for crushing the shells of crustaceans and mollusks, their natural prey. (projectnoah.org)

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission , in Lee County, shells containing a live organism cannot be harvested except for oysters, hard clams (quahogs), sunray venus clams and coquinas. (foxweather.com)
Mollusks such as oysters and clams record detailed information in their shells during their lifetime about the temperature and composition of the seawater they live in', explains the paleoclimatologist. (vu.nl)
They are mollusks, shellfish similar to their cousins, the saltwater oysters and clams. (karipearls.com)

mussel, edible freshwater or marine bivalve mollusk. (infoplease.com)

It is illegal to disturb or take any live mussel or empty mussel shell from the rivers. (nps.gov)
The close-fitting shells protect the mussel from desiccation and enable it to live high up on the shore. (infoplease.com)
The mussel inside gradually secretes materials over time that harden to form the shells. (thehealthyplanet.com)
Much like the rings produced inside a tree trunk, the mussel produces growth lines on the outside of the shell which reveal the shapes the mussel had earlier in its life. (thehealthyplanet.com)
While the outer shell of a mussel is hard, the creature inside is soft and boneless. (thehealthyplanet.com)
Moreover, the impacts of these pollutants on detoxification-related processes were analyzed using the thick-shell mussel as a representative. (bvsalud.org)

Earlier this year, scientists who study marine mollusks - the shy, squishy animals that build the sea's extraordinary shells - discovered the world's worst climate-driven loss of marine life to date in the Mediterranean Sea. (latimes.com)
She will manage a collaborative effort with some of the world's leading authorities on mollusks and marine drug discovery. (azocleantech.com)

The ancestral mollusc is thought to have had a shell, but this has subsequently been lost or reduced on some families, such as the squid, octopus, and some smaller groups such as the caudofoveata and solenogastres. (wikipedia.org)
Mollusks are a diverse group of invertebrates that includes both water and land animals, from the clever octopus to the slow snail. (livescience.com)
Some people might confuse cuttlefish with squid or octopus , since all belong to the class of mollusks called cephalopods (which means 'head foot,' - these creatures' arms encircle their heads). (howstuffworks.com)

Like all invertebrates they lack a spine and they produce a hard external shell instead of an internal skeleton. (nps.gov)
The other 97% of animals are invertebrates (animals without a backbone). (oceanconservancy.org)

Lungs and other organs have evolved independently in terrestrial animals, including mollusks and arthropods, as some mollusks lost their shells in recent evolutionary development. (answersingenesis.org)
Certain animals, insects, and arthropods can inject venom (poison) through mouthparts or a stinger. (msdmanuals.com)

The Brachiopod ClipArt gallery offering 59 images of a mostly extinct phylum of shelled animals. (usf.edu)
Josiah Utsch said it's hard to imagine that an animal that has survived for 200 million years could become extinct in his lifetime. (pressherald.com)
They are an extinct marine mollusk, similar to the nautilus but with a straight shell. (thefamileejewels.com)

Worms are a general term given to many invertebrate animals that have a long, soft body and no legs. (usf.edu)

Along the coast of Israel, not far from where Shell's first SS Murex entered the Suez Canal in 1892, researchers found mollusk populations in the soft shallows have collapsed by nearly 90% in recent decades, unable to tolerate ocean warming caused by the fossil fuels carried in those holds. (latimes.com)
Not only is this type of trade harmful to the health of mollusk populations, but it's also extremely detrimental to the entire ocean ecosystem. (foxweather.com)

Brachiopods are hard shelled marine animals which closely resemble mollusks. (exclusivepapers.com)
Rates at which the brachiopods grow are quite slow and greatly dependent on the seasons and the age of the animal. (exclusivepapers.com)
The fully mature shell contributes to a decreased growth rate in the older brachiopods. (exclusivepapers.com)
Unlike mollusks, brachiopods have bilateral symmetry across the shell. (usf.edu)

Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, South Carolina warned that it is best to collect your own seashells instead of buying them from souvenir shops because these shells could be harvested in harmful ways. (foxweather.com)
A young girl visiting her grandparents at the beach stays in a little house and walks along the shore gathering seashells, wondering about the creatures who used to live in each shell, about the hidden treasures of the sea-and about the world. (ccplonline.org)
This book sheds a surprising light on how seashells-the hard, protective outer layer that mollusks inhabit-serve tremendous purpose. (ccplonline.org)

Arthropoda is the largest phylum in the animal kingdom, and includes both marine and terrestrial creatures like crabs, mites, spiders, centipedes and insects. (oceanconservancy.org)
These simple creatures exist of a soft body within two hard shells. (karipearls.com)

Researchers have found other fossils of animals that look like mollusks. (livescience.com)
Thanks to new lab techniques at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, it is now possible to measure the chemical composition of this 'fossil water' in shells grown in the lab, and in shell fossils of animals that lived during periods of warm climate. (vu.nl)

Shell thin line icon, ocean concept, shellfish shell sign on white background, seashell icon in outline style for mobile concept and web design. (istockphoto.com)
Shell thin line icon, ocean concept, shellfish shell sign on. (istockphoto.com)
Inspired by shellfish, the Nudibranch hotel comes with an instantly recognizable shell-like facade and has 'tentacles' that stretch out in different directions, creating a piece of architecture that looks absolutely stunning from any angle. (yankodesign.com)

are noted for their peculiar habit of opening eggs as well as other food items with hard shells (crabs, mollusks, and nuts). (britannica.com)

The opalescent material from the shells' inner surface is ground into pearl shapes and sold as a cheaper alternative to pearls, usually marketed as "Osmena pearl. (pressherald.com)
Pearls are precious stones[ 1 ] that form inside the shell of mollusks, usually oysters. (biblekeeper.com)
Pearls are formed when an irritant enters a mollusk's shell, and the mollusk covers it with nacre. (biblekeeper.com)
These pearls were cultured on the shell of the oyster and were deficient in luster and fragile. (pearl-guide.com)

Malacology, the scientific study of molluscs as living organisms, has a branch devoted to the study of shells, and this is called conchology-although these terms used to be, and to a minor extent still are, used interchangeably, even by scientists (this is more common in Europe). (wikipedia.org)
Proper s hells are deposited by organisms (such as mollusks) and are external to an animal's body. (blogspot.com)

however no association has been observed between Hox genes and cephalopod shell formation. (wikipedia.org)

Nacre is an organic substance secreted by mollusks to produce their shells. (pearl-guide.com)
Nacre, also known as the mother of pearl, is a substance made of calcium carbonate, which is also found in the teeth and bones of humans and other animals. (biblekeeper.com)
Another type of freshwater pearl is the blister pearl, which forms when an irritant enters the shell of a pearl oyster and causes it to secrete nacre around it, forming a blister-like area on its surface that becomes coated with layers of nacre over time. (biblekeeper.com)

The surface is cleaned and repaired by the mantle, which secretes the shell and can completely cover it. (cadivingnews.com)

Thus, they are able to swim and sail the seas, exactly like their free-swimming cousins, the squids and octopi, yet so unlike their shelled, seabed-bound relatives such as the whelks, tritons and conches. (inquirer.net)
Unlike most modern turtles, Archelon did not have a solid shell, but instead had a skeletal framework supporting a leathery or bony carapace. (inkart.net)

The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum is the only dedicated museum to shells and mollusks and is located in Sanibel Island, Florida, which is considered the shelling capital of the world. (foxweather.com)
José H. Leal, science director and curator for the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum, explains a few ways shellers can prevent harming previous mollusks while staying on the right side of the law. (foxweather.com)
BE_Cover_MA20.indd 1 2420 1237 PM 34 features EXPERIENCE THE NEW AQUARIUM The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum unveils new aquariums, touch tanks and an amazing mollusk exhibit when it reopens its doors this spring. (bonitaesteromagazine.com)

In this context they defoliate sticks of appropriate size to extract insects or honey from tree holes and to pry seeds from hard-shelled fruit. (britannica.com)
Hard, pearly, iridescent internal layer of various kinds of mollusk shell, extensively used for making small articles and inlays. (getty.edu)
Their soft bodies are often enclosed in a hard shell made of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ), which functions as an exoskeleton. (fws.gov)
The nautilus is a master of adaptation, managing to incorporate the best of both Molluscan worlds-possessing a hard and durable shell that gives it safety and security while, at the same time, having the ability to move over long distances in the open seas. (inquirer.net)
Some gulls follow behind plows to consume upturned grubs while others are known to drop hard-shelled mollusks onto rocks to break them open. (seaworld.org)

Cephalopods have been around for about 500 million years , much longer than most other marine life, including fish, and they're some of the smartest animals in the sea. (howstuffworks.com)
One such evolutionary success story is that of the chambered nautilus, a virtual "missing link" between the large family of shelled mollusks called gastropods and the equally big, wide-spreading family of cephalopods to which squids and octopi belong. (inquirer.net)

The radula finding is extraordinary, as it helps researchers label similar fossil animals as mollusks, said study senior researcher Peter Van Roy, a paleontologist at Yale University. (livescience.com)
Calvapilosa , in possessing a radula , unequivocally shows that other fossils like Halkieria [an ancient slug-like creature with two shell 'hats' found in Greenland] and Orthrozanclus [a spiny critter found in Canada's Burgess Shale deposit] belong to the molluskan … group," Van Roy told Live Science in an email. (livescience.com)

The Lampreys ClipArt gallery offers 8 illustrations of these parasitic marine animals that have no jaws. (usf.edu)
The Sea Cucumbers ClipArt gallery includes 24 Illustrations these marine animals that live on the sea floor worldwide. (usf.edu)
We know about the high-profile marine animals, like sharks , dolphins and whales . (howstuffworks.com)

The Dinosaurs ClipArt gallery includes 37 illustrations dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. (usf.edu)
The chambered nautilus, a prehistoric mollusk whose shell is a nearly perfect spiral, is being hunted to extinction because of its beauty. (pressherald.com)

The second aim is discovery of biologically active molecules from bacteria associated with marine mollusks. (azocleantech.com)
These antigens include organic dusts containing bacteria, fungi,4 animal or plant proteins, or low-molecular-weight chemicals. (cdc.gov)

Segmented worms and mollusks evolved in the ocean approximately 550 million years ago. (answersingenesis.org)

The mantle of this shell also has fleshy filaments that serve as sense organs and an operculum that looks like a flat, coiled rope. (cadivingnews.com)
This shell is secreted by a thin sheet of tissue called the mantle, which encloses the internal organs. (fws.gov)

It's underneath the shell, but because the shell has been dissolved away [in the fossil], you can see all of these hundreds and hundreds of tiny teeth pressed up against the shell. (livescience.com)
This fall, ABP, the Netherlands' largest state pension fund, purged Shell and other fossil fuel companies from its portfolio. (latimes.com)
Niels de Winter, specialist in climate reconstructions at VU Amsterdam, will use his Veni grant tp conduct research into small droplets of water locked in fossil shells. (vu.nl)
Through this so-called 'fossil water', de Winter can obtain detailed information about the temperature and composition of the seawater in which the shell lived during its life. (vu.nl)
De Winter expects that the composition of the 'fossil water' in shells is going to show what the composition was of the body fluid from which the animal builds its shell and how this is related to the composition of the seawater. (vu.nl)
To be able to investigate this properly, the researcher will not only look at fossil shells, but also living mollusks such as cockles and oysters so he can measure what the exact composition was of the seawater these animals grew and lived in. (vu.nl)
Hopefully, the information provided by the 'fossil water' can provide the missing piece in the puzzle of how shells are formed, helping to extract detailed climate information from the shell. (vu.nl)

Soft parts, such as skin impressions of dinosaurs, and soft-bodied animals like jellyfish are sometimes preserved, and in some localities may be common, but they give us only brief glimpses of evolutionary histories. (answersingenesis.org)

The regulations here in Lee County and Sanibel Island stipulate that no one may take a live shell away from the beach. (foxweather.com)

The Nautilus is a marine animal that is closely related to squids and octopi, except that it is enclosed in a shell that is divided internally into a series of progressively larger and larger chambers. (inquirer.net)

It may be used to protect the animal against an intruder (the so called 'irritant') or an implanted nucleus in pearl farming. (pearl-guide.com)
When an "irritant" becomes trapped in a mollusk, the animal senses this element and coats it with mother-of-pearl, which is the same composite it uses to build its shell (Kennedy J. P., thoughtco.com). (lu.se)

The shells of older animals are covered with growth that includes barnacles and calcareous algae. (cadivingnews.com)

They christened that first tanker the Murex - for a marine mollusk that builds an ornate, spiked shell. (latimes.com)

It's a tough substance that protects the mollusk from predators. (biblekeeper.com)

Before you bring buckets of colorful shells home from the seashore to stock your shelves , there are a few things to consider that might help you select your seashell finds more carefully and keep important ecosystems in place for marine life. (foxweather.com)

A tiny, hat-like shell that adorns a 478-million-year-old spiky slug is helping scientists figure out how mollusks evolved over the ages, according to a new study. (livescience.com)
The National Institutes of Health has awarded $4 million to a group of Philippine and American scientists led by Oregon Health & Science University to aid in the discovery of new molecules and biofuels technology from marine mollusks for development in the Philippines. (azocleantech.com)
U.S. scientists will work closely with colleagues from the University of the Philippines to uncover interactions between mollusks and their bacterial partners. (azocleantech.com)
The oldest known individual was a mature 507-year-old named Ming the Mollusk, collected by research scientists from the Icelandic shelf in 2006. (mentalfloss.com)
Scientists have also analyzed eye tissue from a group of bowhead whales and concluded that one of the animals was 211 years old at the time of its death. (mentalfloss.com)

His shop sold "small Shells for Ladies' work," along with large, shining specimens such as conchs and nautiluses for still-life drawing. (latimes.com)

A mollusc shell is formed, repaired and maintained by a part of the anatomy called the mantle. (wikipedia.org)
Any injuries to or abnormal conditions of the mantle are usually reflected in the shape and form and even color of the shell. (wikipedia.org)
When the animal encounters harsh conditions that limit its food supply, or otherwise cause it to become dormant for a while, the mantle often ceases to produce the shell substance. (wikipedia.org)
The mantle edge secretes a shell which has two components. (wikipedia.org)
This caps off the extrapallial space, which is bounded on its other surfaces by the existing shell and the mantle. (wikipedia.org)
While the shell is glossy and very pretty, the animal and its mantle are equally attractive, white or golden-white with bright red markings. (cadivingnews.com)

It secretes the substance that forms the shell. (cadivingnews.com)

A 2014 study led by researchers from the University of Florida and the University of Barcelona in Spain found that shell removal by tourists may accelerate the degradation of natural habitats. (foxweather.com)

Browse 557,300+ animal shell stock photos and images available, or search for seashell or snail to find more great stock photos and pictures. (istockphoto.com)
In a history better suited to fairy tales than the financial pages, Shell rose from a small seashell shop in the East End of London. (latimes.com)
Our prettiest seashell-in my opinion-is the purple ringed top shell ( Calliostoma annulatum ). (cadivingnews.com)

The shell is deposited within a small compartment, the extrapallial space, which is sealed from the environment by the periostracum, a leathery outer layer around the rim of the shell, where growth occurs. (wikipedia.org)

The appearance of multicellular animals occurs in an event known as the Cambrian explosion. (answersingenesis.org)
Sponges may be some of the simplest multicellular animals in the world, but they play a big role in the ecosystem! (oceanconservancy.org)

The author is the academic supervisor at Marian School of Quezon City and curator of the school's Museum of Rocks and Shells. (inquirer.net)

However, it's unclear whether mollusks evolved from an ancestor with no shell, one shell or two shells, the researchers said. (livescience.com)
The researchers named the newfound mollusk Calvapilosa kroegeri . (livescience.com)
After studying C. kroegeri 's features, the researchers did an analysis to decipher the mollusk family tree. (livescience.com)
The newfound mollusk was the most primitive member of the lineage leading to chitons, modern-day marine mollusks that sport eight shell plates as well as spines that are similar to those found on C. kroegeri , the researchers said. (livescience.com)
Gold artifacts, precious shells and evidence of animal sacrifice in Lake Titicaca point to a belief system that helped organize the ancient Tiwanaku state, researchers claim. (nationalgeographic.com)
Age in quahogs is determined by counting the lines on the shell, some of which are extremely fine, and Ming's true age was not determined until 2013 by researchers at Bangor University in the UK. (mentalfloss.com)

The color of the shell varies and depends upon the snail's diet, which is thought to be tunicates and hydroids. (cadivingnews.com)
The composition of mollusk shells depends on two factors: the climate and the composition of the sea water in which they grow. (vu.nl)

Orthoceras was a soft creature that lived in the outermost compartment of the shell. (thefamileejewels.com)
A long tube ran the length of the shell allowing the creature to propel itself through water by moving air and water through the tube. (thefamileejewels.com)

The spiraled shell of the nautilus is divided into chambers, with the animal occupying the outermost chamber. (pressherald.com)

I describe them as an armored, spiny slug with one single shell at the head end," said the study's co-lead researcher, Luke Parry, a doctoral student in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol in England. (livescience.com)

Equally fascinating are the animals which make them, and their unique place in the web of life. (weta.org)

When you see a live shell, do not take it. (foxweather.com)
Most 'shell shops' order their shells from wholesale traders, who in turn, get them by harvesting LIVE mollusks from the wild, simply to collect their shells,' the Zoo wrote on Facebook. (foxweather.com)

Maybe a small handful of shells doesn't seem like much, but if millions of other visitors also take the same amount, that adds up. (foxweather.com)

Anatomy2

Organisms3

Mussels13

Snails5

Species29

Crustaceans3

Clams3

Bivalve1

Mussel6

World's2

Octopus3

Invertebrates2

Arthropods2

Extinct3

Invertebrate1

Populations2

Brachiopods4

Seashells3

Creatures2

Fossils of animals2

Shellfish3

Crabs1

Pearls4

Organisms2

Cephalopod1

Nacre3

Secretes the shell1

Unlike2

Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum3

Hard5

Cephalopods2

Radula2

Marine animals3

Prehistoric2

Bacteria2

Worms1

Organs2

Fossil7

Evolutionary1

Sanibel1

Squids1

Irritant2

Calcareous1

Builds1

Protects1

Seashore1

Scientists5

Specimens1

Mantle6

Substance1

Florida1

Seashell3

Outer layer1

Multicellular animals2

Curator1

Researchers6

Depends2

Creature2

Chambers1

Researcher1

Equally1

Live2

Handful1