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All of these shells were found on Beaches in the La Paz area....and were relocated into my Protective Custody to perpetuate their existence & well-being!!

Yellow & orange shells are called "Jingle" shells by everyone locally; yellow is by far the most common color, orange the second most common & I've found I've found just a very few pink, blue, black & white ones. Most of these came from the beach in front of El Comitan & El Mogote.

The other small shells I've nicknamed "football" shells for obvious reasons! These are MUCH harder to find & all that I have came from El Mogote. I've never found ONE on the inner bay!

Various other Shells I've rescued from the ravages of Mother Nature!

Originally Posted by Gruñón

I have never seen any of the football shells before.

I guess it goes without saying that "Football Shells" is MY name for them, from the obvious shape, right down to that looks like the laces down the center!

More Protective Custody items......... ;)

The shell in the bottom 2 pics is a Nautilus shell found out on El Mogote, They are SOOOO delicate & fragile, it amazes me that ANY ever make it to shore intact.

Obviously the yellow "jingle" shells were my favorite shell....until I discovered my first "football" shell!! I have jars of them stashed high & low all over the casa!

Thank you, Grumpy! :? ;)

Nice collection and it is really good that they are now well protected.

Really nice pix.

Diane

Great shots Legs - I have seen a lot of great shells out around San Martin Island. I keep telling myself I am going to start bringing some of them back with me.

Ron, make sure you clean them in soapy water....occasionally I'll discover that there was a "resident"....that had I know about....I'd have left the shell in place! You nose will tell you pretty quickly if you have an "occupied" shell inside! I've been known to pour muratic acid in a shell to get any smelly residue out.

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

Ron, make sure you clean them in soapy water....occasionally I'll discover that there was a "resident"....that had I know about....I'd have left the shell in place! You nose will tell you pretty quickly if you have an "occupied" shell inside! I've been known to pour muratic acid in a shell to get any smelly residue out.

Somebody told me that they soak them in a 50/50 mix of vinegar/water and it does a pretty good job without the hazards of muriatic acid.

Depending on the condition of the shells; amount of algae, etc., I've used bleach & water, muratic acid & water & just soapy water. Muratic acid alone is my last resort for really stubborn "remains"....and I gotta wanna keep that shell really bad! ;)

Edit: Have used vinegar as well.

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

Depending on the condition of the shells; amount of algae, etc., I've used bleach & water, muratic acid & water & just soapy water. Muratic acid alone is my last resort for really stubborn "remains"....and I gotta wanna keep that shell really bad! ;)

Edit: Have used vinegar as well.

Muratic acid

I bought some to clean some cement off of our tile---read the label and determined that I would suffer immediate death if I even opened the bottle, let alone use it in a confined space. Bottle went unopened, and white vinegar and elbow grease cleaned off the cement.

OK, I don't know about those stubborn remains in those shells, except I do know they can really stink.

Diane

I use it with care, but I do use it on stubborn floor problems, "tub"-ring in the pool, really tough cleaning problems. To change the PH of the pool on occasion. Hmmmmm....maybe that's why I don't have a long line of guests wanting to use my pool!