Shell Day

An hourly guide that follows twenty-four mollusks to reveal the fascinating lives behind their shells. From morning to night and from the Arctic to the equator, snails, clams, and other shell-making mollusks have busy days. In this short book, acclaimed author and marine biologist Helen Scales shows readers exactly how these animals spend their time. Each chapter of Shell Day features a single mollusk during a single hour, highlighting twenty-four different species. Far in the north, the Svalbard archipelago lies deep in the darkness of the polar night. And yet, in what remains a scientific mystery, Iceland scallops continue their daily rhythms, closing and opening their fan-shaped shells using an internal clock. At noon, we observe a clam shell sitting still on the seabed of a sandy tropical lagoon. The two shells open slightly, and a pair of rounded eyes peep out. A small, rust-colored coconut octopus hiding inside lets the clam shells fall apart and gathers them up in her arms.