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My Passion for Seashells

Night diving I cannot remember a time when I wasn't interested in seashells. Finding them. Watching them. Even photographing them. When I was in high school in New York City, I wrote a paper on the seashells of Long Island, New York, an early hint of what was to come, even before my first chance to dive a reef in 1986.

Now, 2,600 night dives later...

I have dedicated much of my adult life to exploring and recording my most memorable moments of a thirty-year association with the Caribbean fauna.

I just love Caribbean shells - I like to observe new "things" and see old stuff that I've seen before. I get my biggest kick out of sharing with people, my experiences and joys in discovering the shells of these beautiful tropical islands and providing them with a rare glimpse into the private lives of Caribbean snails.

Featuring the photography of Robert Masino

The photo galleries on this website represent my personal selection of hundreds of forms of seashells which, when first encountered, afforded the greatest pleasure and most memorable moments of a thirty-year association with the Caribbean fauna.

The families treated here have many morphological forms and some are considered great rarities. Innumerable details of the lives of each have been noted and catalogued, all of which is impossible to relate here. Unless otherwise stated, the specimens were collected by me. Studies such as this can be very important to the scientist, as well as offering inspiration to new students of marine life. If you appreciate beautiful shells, it is my hope that these photographs will seduce you.

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What is Conchology?

The colorful seashells you see photographed on this website did not just happen by themselves, nor were they made on earth's surface or formed on the ocean floor like inanimate stones, rocks or gems. All seashells are the homes of soft-bodied creatures which live, grow, reproduce and seek out food in the sea. The remarkable etchings of the Conus cedonulli, the impressive number of variations within the Voluta musica complex, the flattering design of Calliostoma javanicum and the handsome Fasciolaria tulipa are all members of this clan of over 80,000 species of mollusks. Strangest of the mollusks, but not properly called seashells, are the squid and the octopus. They do not have an outer shell.

conchology Best known of the seashells are the two main classes: univalves and bivalves. Univalves have one shell which is usually coiled. Whelks, conchs, snails and periwinkles belong to this class. Some, like the whelks, have a horny operculum which is used to close the entrance of the shell, much like a trapdoor. A few snails, like the sea hares, have a small internal shell, and many garden slugs and sea nudibranchs lack a shell altogether. Bivalves, including the oysters, scallops and clams, have two shelly valves held together by a hinge on one side and adductor muscles inside.

Two uncommon classes include the tusk shells which resemble miniature elephant tusks. The 2-inch long shells are open at both ends. They live in the sandy bottoms of oceans. The other class contains the chitons which have eight shelly plates and cling to shore rocks.