Shell collecting?

This topic has been broached in the past - but it was a while ago and we have a lot more members, so I thought that I would bring it up again for some new opinions. Additionally, the previous thread spun off into a spearfishing tangent, which kind of diluted the original thread topic.

How many of you take shells back with you from a dive? If you do, how do you tell if there's a critter residing in it?

I admit to being tempted on many an occasion to take a beautiful shell I see while diving - but for the life of me, I can't tell whether there is something residing in it or not, so I leave it alone. I figure as soon as you pick it up, if there's a critter in it, it will retreat back into the shell- and I don't have Xray vision to see inside. I would rather err on the side of caution than to take a shell with a living inhabitant in it.

However, I see people all the time coming up with shells, saying there's nothing in them - but I don't know how they can tell.

Now, I will admit to having taken an urchin "shell" - not really the shell, but what's left after an octopus has devoured the contents and all the spines have been broken off - obviously hollow and nothing inside. Finding intact ones are rare and I thought it was a cool find. BTW, before I get resoundingly spanked for this, it was not in any marine preservation/protected area.

As long as you can see if the shell is "dead" without having to pick it up, and you're not in a protected area, why not. I haven't picked up many shells, but have no objection to doing it, as long as it's empty, and not home for some other creature - sometimes little critters like to live underneath abalone shells for example. I'm still looking for a nice chestnut cowrie, but have only seen live ones to date. I don't go around picking up every shell I see to see if there is still something alive inside of it - usually you can tell immediately - the shell is either moving, or you can see it's owner poking out. Dead shells more often than not accumulate on the bottom in natural depressions, or at the base of seamounts - assume anything that's not lying on the sand is alive.

A dead shell usually has some loose sand or grit in it - if you do happen to pick one up, and no sand pours out, there's probably someone home.

...if a shell is inhabited or not. On a recent trip, someone picked up an obivously dead shell. When we got onboard and she took her 'treasurers' out to look at them, a small octopus ventured out. His head was about the size of a dime but he was mad as a wet hornet and red as could be. The DM took him back down when she retrieved the anchor.

I don't have a problem with taking shells if you're careful about the inhabitante. If there is somewhere you can 'stage' shells when you get out of the water to make sure no one is home, you should be safe.

...dead shells are a renewable resource... it's not like you're taking the bell off a shipwreck, or killing something for it's teeth. Most shell species break down rapidly because of surge and wave action in many areas - that's what makes sand. Ever wonder where all those patches of gravel-sized smashed shell fragments between the rocks and kelp come from?

If you do want to collect shells, I'd rather pick them up myself than buy them from the local tourist shop. I purchased a nautilus shell in Fiji a couple of years ago, only to find out later they're harvested by locals (along with almost every other type of shell they had in the shop, including some endangered black cowries from memory), who simply go out and "catch" live shells and then bring them onshore and clean them by boiling and scooping the remains out. Villagers 1, shells 0.

My opinion (we're all entitled to one) is that collecting dead shells can be an environmentally sound activity, if done responsibly - see earlier comments regarding identifying dead shells not being used for shelter by a third party.

Would you pick up a dead shell on the beach? Far more people would have the opportunity to see it there.

I'll tell you exactly why you should pick up nothing (including shells), dead or alive, when visiting or diving near a beach... We once had a house on a beach that was literally covered in shells.. there were millions of them... then as the number of visitors to the beach increased and they began to pick up shells every single one disappeared and now you can't find a single one... and that is NO exageration... there are simply NO more shells to be found.

Now - what is especially dismaying about this situation is that we have developed a ton of beach erosion and the sand has become rough instead of like talcum powder. Your favorite beaches in the caribbean are white instead of yellow because the waves grind the shells and corals finely, but no more - the beaches are turning yellow.

The mantra of cruise boat patrons? "Take everything, leave nothing but trash". Oh yea - and BTW - when your favorite cruise ships leave our bay? They dump their oil and trash overboard - tons of it - and we consequently have to pick it up.

Stephen Ash once bubbled...
I suppose that I look at a dive on a reef like a hike through Yosemite…the only thing that I pick up is trash. My nine year old son has trouble understanding that concept (he loves rocks). Of course, he didn’t see Yosemite thirty years ago. So, I say to him, “imagine what it would be like if everyone took a rock home.”

We complain about bone-yard reefs while stuffing our pockets with shells. Shells, dead or alive, should be left for all to enjoy. We should treat all reefs like they are “protected”. After all, we are just guests.

SA

Click to expand...

WELL SAID MR. ASH!!!

I take an occasional dead shell ,but have a strict policy of not killing stuff I don't plan on eating.I will usually find a camera-typediver and get them to take my pic with the shell.This summer I found 2 really beatiful and rare(for here) shells.A Horse Conch and a Coronados Helmet.Upon finding them I returned to the boat and brought back some nice photos with a little help.beaches are white due to bleaching action of sun......so says results of a short web search.

my buddy took a shell once...one of the snail type. We put in my goody bag, but back on the boay a baby octopus came out. I think taking the snail type shells is wrong, because other critters can use them for future homes even if nothing is in them now.

I have taken the flat clam type shell halfs and the round sea urchin kind. During one dive I took an abalone shell. It was lying in the sand nowhere near a rock. It was very obvious nothing was inside. It really needs some type of cleaning. It was on the bottom so long it lost it's pearly surface. I haven't taken anything except pictures during my last few dives...

Take a picture instead