Shells
Giorgio Gabbi
Traded like coins and collected like precious stones, revered like amulets, conches are the mysterious ladies of the ocean; coloured and luminous, chiselled or smooth, they elicit curiosity in divers and enthuse collectors. This volume, with its ample repertory of underwater images, drawings and biological tables, is aimed at all those who love these gems from the ocean and wish to discover their thousand secrets.
Softback,
167 pages
Publication Date : Sep 1999
Reviews:
Starting with a brief history of the
collection and identification of seashells, the author skilfully leads us on a
journey beneath the waves in search of information on habitat, lifestyle and
fortune of an animal that is often only seen as a cast-off piece of jetsam.
A well laid out and informative guide to the life and times of the organism from
which the seashell is derived. What we see cast up on the shore is but the
exo-skeletal remains of the colourful character whose home it once was.
The book covers all the various types of habitat in which we might find shells,
from harbour walls to mangrove swamps. The book discusses the various regions
into which conchologists have designated for particular species. Without getting
bogged down by a plethora of scientific terminology, the book leads anyone who
is at all interested in the study or collection of shells, on a journey arounf
the world of the mollusc without ever boring their pants off.
The book finishes with hints on the storage and setting up of a record of your
finds and a simple colour guide to help with the identification of species from
the entire range of this very diverse species.