Beachcombing

A large, heart-shaped shell that is yellow on the outside with red/brown marks and pink on the inside.

A large, pear-shaped snail with a deep channel between the whorls. Shells are gray to light tan and have darker brown/red banding. The shell opens on the right side.

A small, wedge-shaped clam with highly variable colors ranging from yellow to red to brown to purple to white.

A long, narrow, tapered shell with many whorls. Colors vary from purple to yellow to brown to gray. Small orange/yellow operculum.

A variably-shaped bivalve that is gray/tan in color with unequal valves (shells). The inside of each shell is white with a purple muscle scar.

Slender gray or blue/gray arms with a dark midline down each arm. Tube feet orange/yellow.

A medium-sized sea cucumber that is dark green/brown in color, swollen in the middle, and covered with tube feet.

Thin, translucent-shelled bivalve with highly variable colors from black to silver to yellow to orange. The lower shell has a hole in it where byssal threads protrude to attach the animal to its substrate.

The outer shell is gray/white to tan with some dark brown streaks and the inner shell is yellow, orange, or red. The darkly colored soft body comprises the head, the visceral mass, and the foot (which is small).

Shiny, cylindrical shell with chestnut-brown scrawled markings on it. Has a low, pointed spire, four or five body whorls, and no operculum.

Easily recognizable by the leftward spiraling shell. Adults are grey with a glossy white aperture; juveniles have brown/orange “lighting-bolt” stripes that fade as they grow.

A large, gray/tan shell with several whorls. The center of the shell is often dark blue or purple. The snail’s soft body is large and will conceal the entire shell when it is outstretched.

Large bivalve with a thin, fragile, wedge-shaped shell that is yellow/brown or purple/black.

Plummed worm casings are the end of a long tube that a polychaete worm occupies. The red/gray/brown leathery tube is made of mucus, shells pieces, and rocks or sand. The worm itself looks like a Christmas tree because of all of its “plumes” or gills, but it is rarely seen.

A small, round urchin with a tan/gray body and white spines tipped with purple.

A dull gray clam with a thick shell that has closely spaced concentric lines.