Shelling Opportunities along The Crystal Coast

The uninhabited barrier island of Shackleford Banks is your short answer.  Over 8 miles of sandy beach will greet you once you walk across this island from the protected side of the island.  There is only one way to get to this location, and that is by boat.  We can recommend two different companies that will deliver you safely.  One is a ferry the other one offers guided tours on the island specifically to find and identify shells.

The uninhabited barrier islands of Cape Lookout National Seashore are a well-known destination for "shelling" or collecting seashells. Knobbed Whelks, Bay Scallops, Scotch Bonnets, and other types of shells can be found washed up on our shores for visitors to collect. For the best shelling opportunities, try to comb the beach at low tide, after a storm, or during times of lower visitation such as in April or September/October.

Visitors are allowed to collect up to five gallons of uninhabited shells per person, per day for non-commercial use. If a mollusk is still in its shell or another animal has made a shell its home, please leave those shells on the beach. Take only empty shells.

Among other things, you can find conchs, whelks, queen's helmets, scotch bonnets, olive shells, sand dollars, and more.

Knobbed Whelk
Busycon carica

Knobbed Whelks are large marine snails that can be found alive in both deep and shallow waters, but are most often seen as their shells wash ashore after the animals inside have died. It is easily identified by its large spike-like tubercles, or knobs, and by its dextral opening, an opening which opens on the right. Whelks use a slender tubule, called a proboscis, to bore through the shells of crabs, lobsters, and other prey.

Eastern Oyster
Crassostrea virginica

These bivalves are found attached in oyster beds in the intertidal zone--the area covered by water at high tide and exposed at low tide. Oyster beds and reefs provide a habitat for other marine life. They also clean the area as they filter food from the surrounding water. Oysters can change from male to female and vice versa, but individuals are not able to reproduce on their own.

Bay Scallop
Aequipecten irradians

Unlike most other bivalves--invertebrates with two shells hinged together by a muscle inside--scallops are circular in shape and have the ability to swim. They are filter feeders which survive on microorganisms in the surrounding water. Bay Scallops also have about 40 blue eyes along the mantle, or opening edge, of their shells. These eyes are able to detect light and movement, allowing the scallop to avoid predators.

Shark's Eye
Polinices duplicatus

The Atlantic Moon Snail--sometimes called a Shark's Eye--can pull water into its mantle and foot, making itself 3 to 4 times the size of its shell. This snail feeds primarily on clams. It will cover the clam with its expanded foot and drill into the shell of its prey with its radula. Once the shell is pierced, the Moon Snail injects digestive enzymes into the clam and then sucks and scrapes out the mussel inside.

Scotch Bonnet
Semicassis granulata granulata

This snail belongs to the same taxonomic Family as the much larger Helmet snails. Female Scotch Bonnets are larger than males and can grow to be about 4 to 5 inches long. Live animals are found approximately 50 to 150 feet offshore in moderately shallow water and typically in areas with strong currents. So even though it is the state shell of North Carolina, the Scotch Bonnet is a somewhat uncommon find for beachcombers.

Atlantic Jackknife Clam
Ensis directus

Jackknife clams are exceptionally fast at borrowing into the sand, but they can also move quickly through water by rapidly opening and closing their shells and pulling in the foot. A jackknife clam's foot, when it is fully extended, is almost as large as its body. Both of these are a common defense against predators. These clams also have a defense against shell erosion: a leathery, greenish-yellow organic coating, called a periostracom.

Queen Helmet
Cassis madagascariensis

Live specimens of this helmet species can occasionally be found about 30 feet out in the ocean. Because they live so far offshore, the best time to find these shells is at low tide after a storm. The Queen Helmet's diet includes poisonous sea urchins which they cover with their shell and paralyze to prevent the prey from releasing its poison. Then, the helmet dissolves the urchin's shell with sulphuric acid to get to the meat inside.

Coquina(s)
Donax variabilis

Among the smallest bivalves commonly found on these beaches, the Coquina's shell is typically no larger than an inch in length. Coquina live in colonies immediately below the sand's surface in the surf zone. They are most frequently seen as they appear to pop out of the sand when a wave recedes. In some places, Coquina are used as an indicator species--the population levels of this clam are used to gauge the health of a beach habitat.

Shells may appear at any tide level at any time of day.  After a storm or high winds is another opportune moment, as the sea often gifts the shores with an array of treasures.