Beach combing is one of our favorite pastimes. We spend hours walking along the tide line
searching for treasures. Shells are the
main attraction, but we also enjoy finding items that have been lost or
discarded at sea. The second category
includes a fair amount of plain old junk, but there are also useful things such
as lengths of rope, fishing floats, and rapalas (fishing lures).
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| Derrick with his strangest beach find ever! (photo courtesy of Kyra on Nyon) |
Getting back to the main attraction, the shells, the vast
majority of finds on any given beach are either damaged or uninspiring. As soon as a shell washes ashore, the sun and
the surf begin their work bleaching and grinding away. It is rare and exciting to find an intact
shell with good color and a nice shiny surface.
In all of our hunting, we have found nearly perfect examples of many
different types of shells. However, one
shell has eluded us. Despite frequent
searching, we had yet to find a paper nautilus.
We first learned of the paper nautilus last summer from
Laura on Just a Minute. Laura explained that the shell is created
by a species of octopus (the Argonaut) and its purpose is to protect the animal’s eggs. During the full moon, the eggs hatch or something
similar takes place and the shell is released.
The following morning is the best time to go paper nautilus
hunting. Getting an early start is
important. As ‘paper’ implies, the shell
is very delicate and if the shore birds find it first, it will likely be picked
apart.
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| The Argonaut in it's shell (photo courtesy of Discover Magazine) |
The last full moon was on Saturday, January 26. First thing Sunday morning Trisha and I
jumped in the dinghy and headed for the beach.
We walked and searched for a couple of hours but had no luck. We had given up for the day and were about
fifty yards from the dinghy when I spotted a white shape in the sand near the
waters edge. I called Trisha over and
she screamed when she saw it. We got our
paper nautilus.
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| This is Derrick's best beach find yet! |
