1. American Sword Scabbard
He is tall, he is thin, and he is many. The American Sword Scabbard. A chic name, but actually we just know it as a razor.
Considering there are thousands of them on the beach you wouldn’t say it, but the long well-known shell does not belong here at all.
“He dominates everything,” says Frank. “We had five species of our own, but they have all been supplanted by that American. They are mainly found in the shallow sea. In the winter those animals also freeze to death, so you have that they wash ashore so massively.”
“He will never leave, even if we wanted to.” If you would like to limit the variety: it is delicious with paella.
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2. Shiny nipples
Small, beautiful animal. Sweet thing, you might say. Until he gets hungry, then he can’t be enjoyed.
“He sits on a shell or a snail, then starts drilling holes with his grating tongue. Then he dissolves his victims with stomach acid and gulps his victim down.”
Those little holes you sometimes see in shells? Yep, it was the shiny nipples that were hungry. “Nipples are also blind and stupid”, Frank knows. “So if you come across a shell with multiple small holes in it, it was the nipples endlessly trying to gulp down an empty shell.”
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3. Mossel
“Yes, we want that!” The mussel, everyone knows it. Delicious in a pan on a terrace in Zeeland.
Yes, tasty. But while you’re licking your fingers, just a little fact: it’s almost a shame to eat it. Because unlike the shiny nipples, the mussel is smart.
With his small body, he and his friends filter the sea in no time. “Fifty liters per day go through such an animal. Everywhere they are, there is clear water.”
Another fact that Frank didn’t want to withhold from us: “In recent years, more and more mussels have been washed ashore in the Netherlands. That is because of the wind farms.”
The mussels love that place. They are smart, but also picky: they only want to stroll on a hard surface. And yes, those windmills are nice and hard.
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4. Beach shell
His name did not win the originality prize, but Frank did not want to miss it from his list of gems: the beach shell.
Point of criticism for this shell: all species are damn similar. Even Frank, who really knows everything about shells, can’t tell them apart. “I’ve been doing this all my life and yet I still have to look up the difference.”
Plus point: they are real tough guys. They have been around for millions of years. “If you find one that’s a bit dark gray, green, or blue, it’s several thousand years old.”
But, there you have those Americans again. “An American beach shell recently arrived in our country. Another unwanted invasive exotic.” A new razor you might say.
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5. Zaagje
The saw is called a saw because it has a saw edge. Not sharp by the way, but it looks like it. No one knows why those ridges are there.
The saw is mysterious. It has a left and a right flap. But the chance that you will find them together is very small. Because: all left halves go with a different flow than all right halves. “A very funny process, which gives you a huge spread.”
It is therefore possible that you will only find left-hand saws on the beach of Ouddorp, and only right-hand saws on the beach of Hoek van Holland.
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We understand that after these top five you can’t wait to start collecting shells yourself. on these eight Dutch beaches you can count shells to your heart’s content today (but you can also go for those shiny nipples on another day).
PS.
If you find a veined spiny horn during your walk, you can call Frank. “Very beautiful! Very dangerous! Yes, especially report.”
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