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November 2006
President’s Message
This month Jackie Reid will be
giving the program featuring his
underwater photography. Be
looking for shells lurking in with
the fish.
Jamboree is just around the
corner and we need donations for
the auction. Start spring cleaning
your shell room early.
Next meeting:
November 7, 2006, 7:00 pm
Program: Jackie Reid
Food provided by: Rusti Stover -
dessert, Sherry Tesch - casserole.
If you can bring a dish or drink,
please help Freida and bring
something. Please sign up for food to
bring later in the year.
Editor’s note: I am not including tide charts. For current charts see:
Study Collection Update: Betty
Bickham has put the club’s Live
Shell Record shells in the
drawers and updated the list.
Guess the family
Is shell number 1
Is shell number 2
a.
an olive
a. an turkey wing
b.
an abalone
b. a turkey wing
c.
a volute
c. a turkey wing
d.
none of the above
d. Happy Thanksgiving
I found this on the web. The article is from Jim Conrad’s February 2006 Nature Newsletter.
The non-sheller outlook is interesting.
TURKEY WING SEASHELLS
Usually the most eye-catching items washed up on the beach are seashells. In places, wave
action has piled 20-ft-long and longer heaps of them -- nothing but ten-inch-deep deposits of
mostly small and white shells that crunch beneath one's feet.
Maybe the most distinctive and easy-to-identify shell is one a little over two inches long, oblong,
with one side bulging out and the other side more or less straight. Low, narrow ridges radiate
across the shell and, most strikingly, the whole shell is zebra-striped with white and rusty-red
bands. You can see some shells I brought home for photographing at
Because the shells vaguely look like outstretched bird wings they're called Turkey Wings,
ARCA ZEBRA.
Once you have the name of something, then you can look up the name in books and on the
Internet to find out more about it. In Hotel Reef's computer room I did just that. I learned that
living Turkey Wings attach themselves to coral rocks and wedge themselves into crevices. They
occur from the low tide mark to as deep as 20 feet.
1
2
Also I found information that made my face burn with shame, for now it's finally sunk in that
Turkey Wings are mollusks. Without thinking much about it I'd been assuming that each Turkey
Wing shell was one of a pair -- that Turkey Wings were bivalves, like clams. However, mollusks,
such as snails, produce just one shell, with an ample foot extending from the opening. This
explains why whenever I try to fit two Turkey Wing shells together there's never a good fit.
Turkey Wing shells are like snail shells, then, just with a much larger opening below for a very
broad foot.
Turkey Wings are distributed from the shores of North Carolina south to Brazil and out to
Bermuda. In Bermuda and Venezuela its flesh is often eaten.
A website with many identified pictures of seashells found on beaches from the Carolinas to
Texas, therefore with many shells also found here, is at
Classified Section
If you have a COA
convention T-shirt
which you do not
wear and would like
to give it to a good
cause, Patty and
Wanda are
collecting them for
a future project.
Remember:
December is Shel-o.
Start looking for the
perfectly shell-y
exchange gift.
As part of the single shell show at the
Jamboree, we will have a “Shell and
Friend” category. This will be one real
or manufactured (but recognizable as
a shell) shell with a friend attached as
part of the piece. The friend can be a
shell animal, another animal, a human
figure or whatever your imagination
finds. It is a single category and one
entry is allowed.
Wayne Humbird still has a
few spaces left in the
Jamboree auction. Please
help him fill those empty
spaces.
CALL TO ORDER: The October 3, 2006 meeting of the Sea Shell Searchers was called to order by president Steven Coker.
SECRETARY’S REPORT: Minutes were approved as sent out in the newsletter.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Patty Humbird reported a balance. Motion made by Cliff Harris, second by Rusti Stover to approve the
treasurer’s report. Motion passed.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
1.
Newsletter: Patty Humbird – let her know if you are not getting a newsletter
2.
Field Trips: Darwin Alder – no report.
3.
Hospitality: Freida White – Will pass around food list
4.
Historian: Irene Norris – no report
5.
Exhibits: Dean Harris – no report.
6.
Auction: Wayne Humbird – The auction will not be held in September due to the Jamboree being held in May 4-5, 2007.
Donations are being accepted for the Jamboree. Suggestion was made that the club rent a storage room for the auction
items due to lack of space in members homes. President asked for a report on cost of storage space for next meeting.
7.
Programs: Wanda Coker - Jackie Reid will give a program in November and Shel-o in December
8.
Shell Show: Wanda Coker, Patty Humbird – no report.
9.
Museum Project: Janey Nill – no report.
10.
Membership: Steven Coker – please pay delinquent dues
OLD BUSINESS
1.
The 2006- 07 budget presented by Steven Coker is as follows: Program committee $200, Newsletter committee $100,
Historian $100, Membership committee $100, Corresponding Secretary $100, Hospitality committee $50. Budget was
approved.
2.
Jamboree budget: The committee requested seed money for the Jamboree. A motion was made by Freida White and
seconded by Tina Petway to allot $600 seed money to the Jamboree Committee. Motion passed. The Welcome Party will
be at the Sea Center. We need to pay the $300 rental fee. Motion made by Cliff Harris, second by Rusti Stover to pay
$300. Motion passed.
NEW BUSINESS none
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.
Brazoria County Fair in October; see Wayne Humbird if interested, he has a few cases left. Setup is October 7 and the
Fair stars October 13-21.
ADJOURNMENT: Motion made by Cliff Harris and seconded by Leslie Crnkovic to adjourn. Motion passed.
PROGRAM: Rusti Stover presented a program on sands of the world.
Submitted by Patty Humbird
Sea Shell Searchers of Brazoria County
400 College Blvd.
Clute, TX 77531