Comments on: Mystique Of A Freak https://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2012/02/26/mystique-of-a-freak/ Collecting seashells on the beaches of Sanibel, Captiva and the world Sun, 22 Mar 2020 23:25:26 +0000 hourly 1 By: Sherri https://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2012/02/26/mystique-of-a-freak/#comment-25495 Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:54:30 +0000 http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/?p=9636#comment-25495 In reply to Susan H.

Very interesting, thanks! Love these posts!!

]]> By: Sherri https://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2012/02/26/mystique-of-a-freak/#comment-25494 Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:52:03 +0000 http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/?p=9636#comment-25494 In reply to pam.

Wow, but it would be so much fun to have an iloveshelling meet up group! A goal to shoot for in the future, Pam! Hey, you could even charge a fee to be in the group and it could go to help injured wildlife or clean up the beaches of Sanibel.. I can see the headlines now!! Sanibel Shellers Turn Their Passion for Shelling into Dollars to Help Wildlife!! ;) Sherri from MN

]]> By: Susan H https://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2012/02/26/mystique-of-a-freak/#comment-25493 Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:22:40 +0000 http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/?p=9636#comment-25493 The freak lightning whelks with the curved siphonal canals (and many other distorted-looking freak shells of many different species) are almost certainly a result of predation attempts.

If the whelk is in the sand with the tip of the siphonal canal sticking out (as is often the case with whelks) and if a hungry fish who likes to eat yummy snails comes by (or some other predator), the predator will take a bite, and in the process it will bite off some of the tip of the siphon as well as part of the shell.

The whelk is sometimes able to survive an attack, and if so it will do its best to repair the shell and carry on, however, often the repaired part is not really lined up with the rest of the shell and so you get this distorted effect.

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