Product Description
Beach Shell Rolled Canvas Prints
Beach Shell Rolled Canvas Prints
A sea shell, also known simply as a beach shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washed up on beaches by beachcombers. The shells are empty because the animal has died and the soft parts have been eaten by another animal or have rotted out. The term seashell usually refers to the exoskeleton of an invertebrate. Most shells that are found on beaches are the shells of marine mollusks, partly because many of these shells endure better than other seashells. Seashells have been used by humans for many different purposes throughout history and pre-history. However, seashells are not the only kind of shells; in various habitats, there are shells from freshwater animals such as freshwater mussels and freshwater snails, and shells of land snails. Seashells are commonly found in beach drift, which is natural detritus deposited along strand lines on beaches by the waves and the tides. Shells are very often washed up onto a beach empty and clean, the animal having already died, and the soft parts having rotted away or having been eaten by either predators or scavengers. Empty seashells are often picked up by beachcombers. However, the majority of seashells which are offered commercially have been collected alive and then killed and cleaned, specifically for the commercial trade.
