Two Shells

[Cadmium]

Two Shells: One glows, and one does not! :-)

The mystery continues! ;-)

[colinbm]

Hi Steve, nice work.

Are these sea &/or land snails Please ?

Col

[OlDoinyo]

Perhaps the difference is the condition of the shells. One looks pristine whereas the other looks more worn and may have had surface material removed or degraded.

[Guest]

Are these decorative shells, or natural? That is, has one been coated with a protective paint or varnish (e.g., polyurethane)?

[Cadmium]

Col, that's a good question, if they are sea or land, but they all have a very tiny bit of fine white beach sand inside them.

 

Clark, both are pristine, no wear on either. If you look close in the visual shot, you will see a bit of gray, which may look like it is the surface chipped away, but with fine inspection with a magnifying glass this is the micro skeletal remains of a growth of fine coral or coralline algae.

 

Mark, these are natural shells, I have examined them closely for any kind of coating, and there is none. Pure shell. With some fine sand debris inside, but you really have to look for it.

 

I buy shells for my aquarium hermit crabs that need bigger shells as they grow. I put an assortment of various sized shells in the tank for the crabs to sort through. These two are substantially larger than what the crabs need.

[colinbm]

Thanks Steve

[Adrian]

I'm not a shell expert, but these could be Topshells (e.g. Clanculus sp.) The Strawberry Topshell in particular, C. pharaonius is known to fluoresece red with UV, due to the Porphyria pigments it contains.

[Cadmium]

Hi Adrian, Thanks, I looked those up. I will try to get one of those. They do look somewhat similar to the one I have on the left.

Mine doesn't glow too much in visual (UVIVF), but it does have a bit of a reddish glow, pretty faint.

Mine is is a smooth shell compared to the one you mention

Thanks again..

[Cadmium]

Here is a shot using green light and a RG715 filter (green light induced 715nm IR LUM).

I have lightened up the shadows to make the dark shell show up a bit better.