Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells (41 page)

Conchifera
A grouping of the major groups of molluscs with shells: the gastropods, bivalves, cephalopods, scaphopods and monoplacophorans.

Conchology
The scientific study or collection of mollusc shells.

Gastropod
The class of molluscs also known as univalves, with a single and often spiralling shell, including snails and slugs.

Harmful algal bloom
A dense aggregation of phytoplankton that produce harmful toxins and when consumed by filter-feeding bivalves can lead to various nasty (and occasionally lethal) shellfish poisoning symptoms. Previously known as red tides, but in fact they can be red, green, purple or brown.

Malacology
The branch of zoology dealing with molluscs.

Mantle
The layer of soft tissue that generally covers a mollusc’s body and secretes the shell (if it has one).

Monoplacophoran
A small and poorly known class of deep-sea molluscs that were thought to be extinct until specimens were found in the 1950s. They have limpet-like shells and radial symmetry, with multiple pairs of internal organs.

Morphospecies
A ‘probable’ species that appears different from others based on the way it looks (morphological characters) but has not been fully and formally identified.

Nacre
The shiny layer of a mollusc’s shell (usually on the inside). Also known as mother-of-pearl.

Nautilid (Nautilida)
A lineage of shelled cephalopods that first evolved in the Devonian period around 400 million years ago, leading up to the living chambered nautiluses.

Nudibranch
A group of shell-less marine gastropods also known as sea slugs. Their name means ‘naked gills’. Pronounced ‘nudie-brank’.

Ocean acidification
A reduction in the average pH of the oceans as a consequence of atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolving into seawater. The oceans have already become 30 per cent more acidic in the last 200 years.

Pelagic
Anything belonging to the realm of the open sea.

Periostracum
A layer of protein that covers the outside of a mollusc’s external shell.

Phylum
(plural phyla) Major category within the living world. Examples include molluscs, arthropods (crabs, shrimp, etc) and annelids (segmented worms). In turn, each phylum is traditionally divided up into classes, then orders, families, genera and species.

Plankton
Microscopic, aquatic drifting creatures including both phytoplankton (plants and algae) and zooplankton (animals).

Pteropods
An informal term for the gastropod orders Thecosomata (sea butterflies) and Gymnosomata (sea angels). These are pelagic snails that ‘fly’ underwater with little wings.

Radula
The mouthparts of most molluscs. They come in a huge range of shapes and arrangements, allowing molluscs to specialise in different diets, from general herbivory to highly specialised hunting.

Sacoglossan
A group of shell-less sea slugs that specialise in sucking sap from algae and plants.

Scaphopods
The small class of molluscs also known as tusk shells. They look like miniature elephant’s tusks, and generally live buried in seabed sediments.

Sclerites
Bristles found on some molluscs, including chitons, solenogastres, caudofoveates and the now-extinct
Wiwaxia
(although not everyone agrees
Wiwaxia
was a mollusc).

Solenogastres
An obscure class of molluscs. Like caudofoveates they are wormy and shell-free. They live either on the surface of mud or on corals.

Spat
A common term for settled bivalve larvae, especially oysters and mussels.

Spondylus
A genus of bivalve generally deep red, orange or purple in colour and covered in long spines that attract encrusting organisms (sponges, seaweeds, etc). Also known as thorny oysters.

Taxonomy
The branch of science that occupies itself with identifying and naming living things, and sorting out how they are all related to each other.

Wiwaxia
A creature from the Cambrian period around 520 million years ago, discovered in the Burgess Shale fossils. Some experts consider it to be an early mollusc. It had no shell but was covered in scales and bristles.

Select Bibliography

Chapter 1 Meet the Shell-makers

Bouchet, P.
, Lozouet, P., Maestrati, P. & Heros, V. 2002. Assessing the magnitude of species richness in tropical marine environments: exceptionally high numbers of molluscs at a New Caledonia site.
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
75: 421–436.

Johnson, S. B., Warén, A., Tunnicliffe, V., Van Dover, C., Wheat, C. G., Schultz, T. F. & Vfrijenhoek, R. C. 2014. Molecular taxonomy and naming of five cryptic species of
Alviniconcha
snails (Gastropoda: Abyssochrysoidea) from hydrothermal vents.
Systematics and Biodiversity
1–18.

Kocot, K. M.
2013. Recent advances and unanswered questions in deep molluscan phylogenetics.
American Malacological Bulletin
31: 195–208.

Ponder, W. F. & Lindberg, D. R. R. 2008.
Phylogeny and Evolution of the Mollusca
. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Smith, M. R.
2014. Ontogeny, morphology and taxonomy of soft-bodied Cambrian ‘Mollusc’
Wiwaxia
.
Palaeontology
57: 215–229.

Chapter 2 How to Build a Shell

Boettiger, A.
, Ermentrout, B. & Oster, G. 2009. The neural origins of shell structure and pattern in aquatic mollusks.
PNAS
106: 6837–6842.

Clements, R., Liew
, T.-S., Vermeulen, J. J. & Schilthuizen, M. 2008. Further twists in gastropod evolution.
Biology Letters
4: 179–182.

Gong, Z.
, Matzke, N. J., Ermentrout, B., Song, D., Vendetti, J. E., Slatkin, M. & Oster, G. 2012. Evolution of patterns on
Conus
shells.
PNAS Early Edition
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1119859109

Hoso, M.
, Kameda, Y., Wu, S.-P., Asami, T., Kato, M. & Hori, M. 2010. A speciation gene for left–right reversal in snails results in anti-predator adaptation.
Nature Communications
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1133

Meinhardt, H.
2009.
The Algorithmic Beauty of Seashells.
Springer, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London & New York.

Raup, D. R.
1962. Computer as aid in describing form in gastropod shells.
Science
138: 150–152.

Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth
. 1917.
On Growth and Form.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Reprinted 1992.

Vermeij, G. J.
1995.
A Natural History of Shells.
Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Chapter 3 Sex, Death and Gems

Bouzzouggar, A.
, Barton, N., Vanhaeren, M., d’Errico, F., Collcutt, S., Higham, T., Hodge, E., Parfitt, S., Rhodes, E., Schwenninger, J.-L., Stringer, C.,
Turner, E., Ward, S., Moutmir, A. & Stambouli, A. 2007. 82,000-year-old shell beads from North Africa and implications for the origins of modern human behavior.
PNAS
104: 9964–9969.

Claassen, C. 1998.
Shells.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Gaydarska, B., Chapman, J.C.
, Angelova, I., Gurova, M. & Yanev, S. 2004. Breaking, making and trading: the Omurtag Eneolothis
Spondylus
hoard.
Archaeologia Bulgarica
8: 11–33.

Hogendorn, J.
& Johnson, M. 1986.
The Shell Money of the Slave Trade.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Chapter 4 Shell Food

Diaz, R. J. & Rosenberg, R. 2008. Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems.
Science
321: 926–929.

Glibert, P. M., Anderson, D. M., Gentien, P., Granéli, E. & Sellner, K. G. 2005. The global, complex phenomenon of Harmful Algal Blooms.
Oceanography
18: 136–147.

Potasman, I. & Odeh, M. 2002. Infectious outbreaks associated with bivalve shellfish consumption: a worldwide perspective.
Clinical Infectious Diseases
35: 921–928.

Richter, C.
, Rao-Quiaoit, H., Jantzen, C., Al-Zibdah, M. & Kochzius, M. 2008. Collapse of a new living species of giant clam in the Red Sea.
Current Biology
18: 1349–1354.

For online advice on making better seafood choices:

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch,
www.seafoodwatch.org

Marine Conservation Society Fishonline,
www.fishonline.org

Australia’s Sustainable Seafood Guide,
www.sustainableseafood.org.au

Chapter 5 A Mollusc Called Home

Beck, M. W., Brumbaugh, R. D., Airoldi, L., Carranza, A., Coen, L. D., Crawford, C., Defeo, O., Edgar, G. J., Hancock, B., Kay, M. C., Lenihan, H. S., Luckenbach, M. W., Toropova, C. L., Zhang, G. & Guo, X. 2011. Oyster reefs at risk and recommendations for conservation, restoration, and management.
Bioscience
61: 107–116.

zu Ermgassen
, P. S. E., Spalding, M. D., Grizzle, R. E. & Brumbaugh, R. D. 2013. Quantifying the loss of a marine ecosystem service: filtration by the eastern oyster in US estuaries.
Estuaries and Coasts
36: 36–43.

Haires, D. 2013. The flame shells of Kyle Akin.
Mollusc World
32: 15–17.

Kirby, M. X. 2004. Fishing down the coast: historical expansion and collapse of oyster fisheries along continental margins.
PNAS
101: 13096–13099.

Laidre, M. E.
, Patten, E. & Pruitt, L. 2012. Costs of a more spacious home after remodelling by hermit crabs.
Journal of Royal Society Interface
DOI: 10.1098.

Lewis, S. M. & Rotjan, R. 2009. Vacancy chains provide aggregate benefits to
Coenobita clypeatus
hermit crabs.
Ethology
115: 356–365.

Chapter 6 Spinning Shell Stories

Hendricks, I. E., Tenan, S., Tavecchia, G., Marbà, N., Jordà, G., Deudero, S., Álvarez, E. & Duarte, C. M. 2013. Boat anchoring impacts coastal populations of the pen shell, the largest bivalve in the Mediterranean.
Biological Conservation
160: 105–113.

Maeder, F.
2008. Sea-silk in Aquincum: first production proof in antiquity.
Purpureae Vestes. II Symposium Internacional sobre Textiles y Tintes del Mediterráneo en el mundo antiguo
(eds C. Alfaro & L. Karali), pp. 109–118.

McKinley, D.
1998. Pinna and her silken beard: a foray into historical misappropriations.
Ars Textrina
29: 9–223.

Project Sea-silk
website:
www.muschelseide.ch/en

Chapter 7 Flight of the Argonauts

Broderip, W. J.
1828. Observations on the animals hitherto found in the shells of the genus
Argonauta
.
The Zoological Journal
4: 57–66.

Finn, J. K.
& Norman, M. D. 2010. The argonaut shell: gas-mediated buoyancy control in a pelagic octopus.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
277: 2967–2971.

Hewitt, R. A. & Westermann, G. E. G. 2003. Recurrences of hypotheses about ammonites and argonauta.
Journal of Paleontology
77: 792–795.

Kruta, I.
, Landman, N., Rouget, I., Cecca, F. & Tafforeau, P. 2011. The role of ammonites in the Mesozoic marine food web revealed by jaw preservation.
Science
331: 70–72.

Landman, N. H.
, Goolaerts, S., Jagt, J. W. M., Jagt-Yazykova, E. A., Machalski, M. & Yacobucci, M. M. 2014. Ammonite extinction and nautilid survival at the end of the Cretaceous.
Geology
DOI: 10.1130/G35776.1

Chapter 8 Hunting for Treasures

Barord, G. J., Dooley, F., Dunstan, A., Ilano, A., Keister, K. N., Neumeister, H., Preuss, T., Schoepfer, S. & Ward, P. D. 2014. Comparative population assessments of Nautilus sp. in the Philippines, Australia, Fiji, and American Samoa using baited remote underwater video systems.
Plos ONE
9: DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100799

Dance, S. P. 1986.
History of Shell Collecting.
E. J. Brill, Leiden.

De Angelis, P. 2012. Assessing the impact of international trade on chambered nautilus.
Geobios
45: 5–11.

Reeve, L. A.
& Sowerby, G. B. 1843–1878.
Conchologia Iconica, or Illustrations of Shells of Molluscous Animals.
Lovell Reeve, London.

Chapter 9 Bright Ideas

Finnemour, A.
, Cunha, P., Shean, T., Vignolini, S., Guldin, S., Oyen, M. & Steiner, U. 2012. Biomimetic layer-by-layer assembly of artificial nacre.
Nature Communications
3: DOI: 10.1038/ncomms 1970

Kohn, A. J.
1956. Piscivorous gastropods of the genus
Conus
.
Zoology
42: 168–171.

Li, L.
& Ortiz, C. 2014. Pervasive nanoscale deformation twinning as a catalyst for efficient energy dissipation in a bioceramic armour.
Nature Materials
13: 501–507.

Mirkhalaf, M.
, Dastjerdi, A. K. & Barthelat, F. 2014. Overcoming the brittleness of glass through bio-inspiration and micro-architecture.
Nature Communications
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4166

Olivera, B. M.
& Cruz, L. J. 2001. Conotoxins, in retrospect.
Toxicon
39: 7–14.

Peters, H., O’Leary, B. C., Hawkins, J. P., Carpenter, K. E. & Roberts, C. M. 2013.
Conus
: first comprehensive conservation Red List assessment of a marine gastropod mollusc genus.
Plos ONE
8: DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083353

Seronay, R. A.
, Fedosov, A. E., Astilla, M. A., Watkins, M., Saguil, N., Heralde III, F. M., Tagaro, S., Poppe, G. T., Aliño, P. M., Oliverio, M., Kantor, Y. I., Concepción, G. P. & Olivera, B. M. 2010. Biodiverse lumun-lumun marine communities, an untapped biological and toxinological resource.
Toxicon
56: 1257–1266.