shop what's new gem journeys
wishlists my shopping bag
 

shells - jewels of the sea
Common shell names can sometimes be misleading. For instance, the Golden Cowrie, cypraea aurantium, is really not golden, but orange in color.
Conchology (pronounced "cong-col'-u-gy") is the branch of zoology that deals with the study of mollusks and shells.
The most well-known members of the Mollusk genus are Gastropods, Bivalves and Cephalopods (to which the Chambered Nautilus belongs).
All Mollusks have one thing in common: a foot -- although each class of Mollusks uses it for a different purpose.
Shells aren't found only on beaches -- since mollusks live in all environments on Earth, shells can be found anywhere mollusks live. Many mollusks have adapted to life on land and can be observed in leaf litter, in trees, on plants, under rocks and buried in loose dirt.
soft-bodied gems

turbo sarmaticus

Although abalone, paua, mother-of-pearl and fossilized shell are each covered separately on this site, many other shells are also used in jewelry including the nautilus, olivella, conch, cowrie, trochus, turbo, spiny oyster and various marine bivalves.

olivella shells

Shells are the exoskeletons of a group of animals called Mollusks, a word that means "soft-bodied." Mollusks are classified into major groupings according to the characteristics of their shells.
Consisting of five parts, mollusks have:
  1. a foot, for locomotion
  2. a head
  3. a visceral sac which includes the digestive tract as well as the excretory, circulatory and reproductive systems
  4. a mantle, a respiratory organ which also operates as an organ for taking in food, and
  5. a shell, formed by a secretion of the mantle

trochus pyramis

In the ocean, there are mollusks which live on coastal rocks and on coral reefs as well as those who inhabit the ocean depths. Mudflats and mangrove areas are also homes to hundreds of mollusk species. Some live on the tree roots and branches just at water line. Others bury themselves in the mud or sand bottom, emerging to feed, often at night or at low tide.
But where ever Mollusks are found, their hard shells offer a unique range of colors and patterns which have made them an attractive material to man for many thousands of years.

symbolic attributes

metaphysical
energy receptive / yin
planet Moon
element water