When I was 13 or 14, I found bunches and bunches of tiny shells on the beach in Massachusetts (a beach where we would go when we would visit my grandparents – Mom’s side). The shells were inside of these interesting-looking strings of gray-yellow translucent casings that I saw and got curious about. I broke one open, and found that each little chamber would have like 50 or 100 tiny shells in it!
I allowed the little shells to dry out, and then very patiently strung them on thread using a fine needle. The resulting double-strand necklace has held up surprisingly well and was one of my favorite necklaces for many decades.
Well, fast-forward almost 50 years later, I find out that what I had assumed were empty shells were baby whelks. Little tiny baby whelks. I’m sorry, little babies!
How I found out: Recently, after all this time, I got curious and searched around on the web and found this article. (“Whelks and whelk management” from the mass.gov website.)
I haven’t felt like wearing the necklace since then. But, I’m trying to do my part to share information about these little guys.
“The species range along the east coast from southern Massachusetts to Florida. Massachusetts represents the northern geographic range for these species and the animals are generally confined to the waters south and west of Cape Cod. This includes Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound, Buzzards Bay and Mount Hope Bay. Movement is thought to be limited with only small scale seasonal migrations of less than several miles. …
“Based of field observations, whelk tend to spawn during the late summer period. Males directly fertilize the females and more than one male may fertilize a female. Females then develop their egg casings overtime. When spawning begins, the large casings are released in strings by the female whelks and anchored to the sediment. Whelks then hatch about nine months after the egg strings are deposited. There is no larval period for these animals.
“Stock Status
“DMF considers channeled whelk to be depleted throughout their range within the waters under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth. A 2018 stock assessment of channeled whelk within Nantucket Sound showed this resource to be overfished with overfishing occurring.”
Fun tidbit: A blogger who grew up in Massachusetts wrote this nice detailed post about Barneys Joy beach & surrounding area. Took lots of great photos too. (Fun fact, that hurricane of 1938 was what prompted Grandma’s family to move a little bit back from the beach. Not sure, but I may be the first member of my family since then who has moved to live in walking distance of the Atlantic Ocean.)