Visual Shell Kit
Miscellaneous Section

 

Scaphopods (Tusk Shells)
 

Elephant Tusk Shell
Dentalium elephantinum
3" (7.5 cm.)

 

Straight Ivory Tuskshell
(Graptacme lepta)

 

 
Polyplacohora ( Chitons)
 

Assorted Chitons
average sizes 1.5 to 2" (3 - 5 cm.)

Chitons: Lined, Leather, Gumboot

Chitons, which also known sometimes as sea cradles, are sluggish molluscs that creep along the under-sides of rocks on broad feet. Most have eight exposed, overlapping plates on their backs; two species have plates that are partially or completely covered by a thick, fleshy layer called a mantle or girdle. The flexibility of these plates allow chitons to fit snugly into a depression on rocks where it can better hold on. When dislodged it rolls into a ball like a pill bug to protect its soft undersides from predators (and hence its "sea cradle" label). Tufts of gills are tucked in a groove between the body tissues and the plates.

 

 
Gumboot Chiton/Giant Pacific Chiton
(Cryptochiton stelleri)
NOTE: These chitons possess a backbone-like structure made up of eight white butterfly shaped plates, which are internal

the largest chiton in the world--up to 13" long, 5" wide (32.5 x 12.5 cms.)


 
 
Cephalopods (Octopus, Squids, Nautilus)
 

Giant Pacific Octopus
(Enteroctopus dofleini )
23 feet (7.5 m)
100 pounds (45 kg)
Larger specimens have been found

 

Giant Pacific Squid
(Architeuthis dux)
Up to 18 m (59 ft)
Up to 900 kg
(1,980 lb, nearly 1 ton)

 

Giant Australian Cuttlefish
(Sepia apama)
up to 19 3/4" (50 cm.)

 

Internal Cuttlefish Bone
(species unknown)
This is the bone that is used in bird cages
8" (20 cm.)

Emperor nautilus
( Nautilus pompilius)
6" (15 cm.)

 

This is a cross section of a chambered nautilus to show you it's beautiful internal structure

 

Paper nautiluses
(Argonautidae )


Argonata nouryi
Argonaut Egg Case

 

Ram's Horn Squid
(Spirula spirula)
NOTE: the internal shell is composed of many gas-filled chambers. These squid live at great depths and even though this internal shell is quite lightly built, they frequently wash up on the beaches worldwide.
1 - 1.5" (2.5 - 3.5 cm.)