As I read a thread about ethnics about destroying the shelters of animals to observe the organism and take a picture for iNaturalist post, I remember the time when I was a heavy seashell collector and was always called out by my sister who believed in the collection of tons seashells were poor etiqu…

In my opinion, put your unwanted shells under a tree. You save a trip to the beach. Too much calcium can cause chlorosis to plants. For some plants which like slightly alkaline conditions, it may grow bigger. Probably enables flowering in bougainvillea if done right. Maybe break it up and put into t…

I say, if the shell of a bivalve has broken in two, I don’t think wildlife will use it. Unless there are some very flat hermit crabs somewhere, I think it’s fine to collect a few (1-3) on a trip to the beach.

Just a heads up, as a bivalve identifier, people returning seashells to the wrong beaches often leads to confusion as sometimes the species don’t occur there. I’ve also personally seen many marine seashells on freshwater beaches. This isn’t really that much of a problem but it makes things more comp…

I read an interesting article about hermit crabs. They hollow out the gastropod shells to make them lighter, so they prefer a previously used shell. A whole 'nother layer to consider. (And yes, there are shells here too!)

I am also in a dilemma about this. I don’t know if I should collect shells or not. Besides hermit crab homes (which only applies to gasteropods), I have not studied how do they serve to the ecosystem. But I guess they add minerals to the water, they degrade into sand… Anyway, for now I just collect…

[image] DianaStuder: so they prefer a previously used shell Around here, hermit crabs even organise swap meets. They’ll aggregate as they start to outgrow their current shell, and when everyone thinks they’ve found a good donor and the biggest has found a suitable new shell, they’ll all trad…

That’s true. But I don’t take shells always. And not everyone takes shells home, either. That doesn’t seem to be much of a problem here. And I don’t always have the opportunity to take a photographic device with me. But, if all those collectors collect that amount of shells per day, what happens to…

[image] lj_l: I’ve also personally seen many marine seashells on freshwater beaches. When I was young one of my favorite pranks was to put marine seashells on the beach at my local lake (which was over 500 miles from any ocean). I would collect them over summer vacation trips and then clandes…

Personal Story about Ethics of Seashell Collecting

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Personal Story about Ethics of Seashell Collecting

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