SHELLING by cheesecake17
The empty seashells you find layered on the beach once were home to soft-tissued animals called mollusks.
Mollusks build their shells by secreting a liquid that eventually hardens around them. As the animals grow, their shells grow with them. Special glands create color pigments just before new layers of shell harden.
Shells and their inhabitants play an important role in Sanibel and Captiva islands ecology.
They help keep the sand neatly in place and restock it with more as they're crushed by waves and other forces. They provide food for birds and fish. The scavenging and filtering performed by certain mollusks help cleanse Gulf waters.
Because seashells are important to the islands' chain of life, and because Sanibel and Captiva are refuge islands where all life is considered precious, the State of Florida has outlawed the collecting of live shells on the island.
"Live shell" is defined as any specimen containing an inhabitant, whether or not the mollusk seems alive. The law also protects sand dollars, starfish and sea urchins. All shelling is prohibited in J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
IMPORTANT...Shellers are urged to limit even their empty-shell collection. Hauling away seashells by the bucketful diminishes supplies and the value of a single shell.
