Empty Shells found on
the seashore are the homes of Sea Snails or Creatures that have
been abandoned them.
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Shell of Sea Snail found clinging to rocks.
During the day, they look for food crawling slowly over
the rocks. They live on algae. Limpets use their tongues
to scrape algae off the rocks.
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Barnacles are creatures that have
jointed legs and shells of connected overlapping plates.
Instead of crawling after food, they glue themselves to
rocks, ships, pillings, abalones, and maybe even whales
and wait for food to wash by. When barnacles are under water
or when a wave washes over them, they reach out little feathery
barbed legs to strain out plankton and absorb oxygen.
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shell has a number of bands of different colours. Bands
can be white, orange, brown and purple. It burrows under
the sand in shallow waters to feed on tiny sand creatures.
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This sea creature fixes itself to rocks.
It has a blue black or brown shell, pearly white inside
with a darker
border. It grows from
1-10cm. Mussels are often used as a starter
when eating a special dinner. We saw lots of them on Portavade.
They live together in huge beds in areas where there
is plenty of water movement. The water carries tiny animals
and plants which the mussel filters out using its gills.
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Periwinkles
are plant-eating snails. Periwinkles walk many metres
each tide cycle on their one fleshy "foot". Look
for the brown or black skin, attached to the foot. It seals
the shell shut, like a submarine hatch, when the tide is
out. Periwinkles graze on seaweeds, big and small. Watch
for crevices in rocks that are cleared of seaweeds
- there may be periwinkles living in the crevice and creeping
out at high tide to graze.
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The razor shell is a bi valve( two halfs
to the shell) and is a filter feeder remaining close to
the top of the sand. It sifts (filter) tiny animals out
of the water. When
the shell is feeding, it is vertical in the sand.
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This bivalve also live buried in the sand
about 2-3cm down below the middle shore line. It
is greyish-white in colour sometimes with brown marks.
It can grow to 5cm long. It lives 2-3cm under ground.
The rings on its back show how old it is. When
the tide is in , it pushes its two tube-like siphons to
the surface of the sand to feed on tiny fish and breathe.
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The
Dog whelk is a common sea shell and is usually found on
rocky shores. It is often found in groups from the middle
shore down to the shallow water. Its colour can vary but
usually is a grey/cream with dark lines around it. Dog Whelks
feed on barnacles.
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| This creature
can be found under stones feeding on seaweeds. It
is around 15 mm tall. It has a silvery grey green shell
with purple bands. Its shell is often found abandoned
on the Seashore.
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