We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,589,988.41 | Books Available: 787,027 | Members Online: 44

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - The Book of Shells: A Life-Size Guide to Identifying and Classifying Six Hundred Seashells

The Book of Shells A LifeSize Guide to Identifying and Classifying Six Hundred Seashells
Author: M. G. Harasewych, Fabio Moretzsohn

Who among us hasn?t marveled at the diversity and beauty of shells? Or picked one up, held it to our ear, and then gazed in wonder at its shape and hue? Many a lifelong shell collector has cut teeth (and toes) on the beaches of the Jersey Shore, the Outer Banks, or the coasts of Sanibel Island. Some have even dived to the depths of the ocean. Bu... more »t most of us are not familiar with the biological origin of shells, their role in explaining evolutionary history, and the incredible variety of forms in which they come.

Shells are the external skeletons of mollusks, an ancient and diverse phylum of invertebrates that are in the earliest fossil record of multicellular life over 500 million years ago. There are over 100,000 kinds of recorded mollusks, and some estimate that there are over a million more that have yet to be discovered. Some breathe air, others live in fresh water, but most live in the ocean. They range in size from a grain of sand to a beach ball and in weight from a few grams to several hundred pounds. And in this lavishly illustrated volume, they finally get their full due.

The Book of Shells offers a visually stunning and scientifically engaging guide to six hundred of the most intriguing mollusk shells, each chosen to convey the range of shapes and sizes that occur across a range of species. Each shell is reproduced here at its actual size, in full color, and is accompanied by an explanation of the shell?s range, distribution, abundance, habitat, and operculum?the piece that protects the mollusk when it?s in the shell. Brief scientific and historical accounts of each shell and related species include fun-filled facts and anecdotes that broaden its portrait.

The Matchless Cone, for instance, or Conus cedonulli, was one of the rarest shells collected during the eighteenth century. So much so, in fact, that a specimen in 1796 was sold for more than six times as much as a painting by Vermeer at the same auction. But since the advent of scuba diving, this shell has become far more accessible to collectors?though not without certain risks. Some species of Conus produce venom that has caused more than thirty known human deaths.

The Zebra Nerite, the Heart Cockle, the Indian Babylon, the Junonia, the Atlantic Thorny Oyster?shells from habitats spanning the poles and the tropics, from the highest mountains to the ocean?s deepest recesses, are all on display in this definitive work.

ISBN-13: 9780226315775
ISBN-10: 0226315770
Publication Date: 6/30/2010
Pages: 656
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 3
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Book Wiki

Common Title

The Book of Shells A LifeSize Guide to Identifying and Classifying Six Hundred Seashells

Genres:

Reference >> General
Science & Math >> Biological Sciences >> Zoology >> General
Science & Math >> General
Engineering & Transportation >> Professional Science >> Biological Sciences >> Biology >> Marine Biology
Engineering & Transportation >> Professional Science >> Biological Sciences >> Zoology >> General

Back to the Top ↑

Search - The Book of Shells: A Life-Size Guide to Identifying and Classifying Six Hundred Seashells

Book Wiki

Loading...