Artistic SeaSnails build other shells into their shells SL
December 31, 2012 8:52 AM Subscribe
Yeah, you don't get to throw that in there without further explanation or a sad/adorable picture.
posted by malphigian at 8:56 AM on December 31, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by malphigian at 8:56 AM on December 31, 2012 [3 favorites]
Space snails build their space hulls similarly.
posted by TwelveTwo at 9:05 AM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by TwelveTwo at 9:05 AM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]
Regarding the kitten's paw, I assume they mean one of these.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:13 AM on December 31, 2012 [15 favorites]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:13 AM on December 31, 2012 [15 favorites]
Yo snail I heard you like shells? Is that still something people say?
posted by kenko at 9:15 AM on December 31, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by kenko at 9:15 AM on December 31, 2012 [5 favorites]
I am such a twat, i didn't check the site properly, i get overexcited about everything, sorry! But, i am trying to figure out how to take a post down after being stupid, and I can't (it's a museum for the invented. Which is fun, but fake.) If you can figure out how to withdraw something before I do, please do! Thanks. Sorry, for wasting time.
posted by maiamaia at 9:24 AM on December 31, 2012
posted by maiamaia at 9:24 AM on December 31, 2012
monju_bosatsu, thanks for that. Phew!
Love this charming site and its connected links. Thanks for the post maiamaia. Fascinating to know about Sea Snails collecting and attaching sculptural decorations on their portable homes. Huh. Miniature marine artists. The world is endlessly interesting.
posted by nickyskye at 9:26 AM on December 31, 2012
Love this charming site and its connected links. Thanks for the post maiamaia. Fascinating to know about Sea Snails collecting and attaching sculptural decorations on their portable homes. Huh. Miniature marine artists. The world is endlessly interesting.
posted by nickyskye at 9:26 AM on December 31, 2012
Fake? Thorough, if that.
But, i am trying to figure out how to take a post down after being stupid, and I can't (it's a museum for the invented. Which is fun, but fake.)
Let's wait until the owner shows up, shall we?
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:31 AM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]
But, i am trying to figure out how to take a post down after being stupid, and I can't (it's a museum for the invented. Which is fun, but fake.)
Let's wait until the owner shows up, shall we?
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:31 AM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]
It looks like Xenophora or Carrier Snails are real, even if other things on that site are fun inventions.
posted by moonmilk at 9:38 AM on December 31, 2012
posted by moonmilk at 9:38 AM on December 31, 2012
Looking up the various shell names one by one, these Sea Snail collector-artists are real, not fake. Examples: flindersi | solarioides.
This one is marvelous, the pallidula.
posted by nickyskye at 9:41 AM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]
This one is marvelous, the pallidula.
posted by nickyskye at 9:41 AM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]
Gaudy show offs!
( retreats into shell )
posted by The Whelk at 9:48 AM on December 31, 2012 [4 favorites]
( retreats into shell )
posted by The Whelk at 9:48 AM on December 31, 2012 [4 favorites]
The Xenophora conspiracy is child's play compared to the elaborately supported and meticulously fabricated Muskox.
posted by TwelveTwo at 9:55 AM on December 31, 2012
posted by TwelveTwo at 9:55 AM on December 31, 2012
Mike Holmes does not approve of these slipshod remodel jobs.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:22 AM on December 31, 2012
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:22 AM on December 31, 2012
Yo dawg, I heard you like shells...
posted by Earthtopus at 10:24 AM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Earthtopus at 10:24 AM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]
Decorator crabs are real, and they glue other sea debris to themselves.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:04 AM on December 31, 2012
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:04 AM on December 31, 2012
"Invented" need not mean "fake" here, right? I mean, in gathering shells, those snails are to some extent inventors?
posted by gusandrews at 11:05 AM on December 31, 2012
posted by gusandrews at 11:05 AM on December 31, 2012
Or rather, not glue - I think the crabs use velcro-like hooks to attach things.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:05 AM on December 31, 2012
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:05 AM on December 31, 2012
Oh; fiction or not (and it's looking like not?), this is absolutely fascinating (as is, at a glance, the rest of the site) and a fantastic post that I would be sad to see sunk.
Thanks, maiamaia! I love knowing I live in a world with such strange, beautiful things.
posted by byanyothername at 11:06 AM on December 31, 2012
Thanks, maiamaia! I love knowing I live in a world with such strange, beautiful things.
posted by byanyothername at 11:06 AM on December 31, 2012
For no good reason whatsoever but in the spirit of gathered tidbits attached, I'm adding the two following words into the mix of this thread. Operculum is the name of the little door snails use in closing up their shell. Isn't that a cute word? Perky little operculum.
The next word I learned in a shell shop. The owner told me the name of the connection between the chambers in a Nautilus shell can be remembered with this mnemonic. Combine the names of Simon and Garfunkle, Si and funkle and you get siphuncle.
posted by nickyskye at 11:37 AM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]
The next word I learned in a shell shop. The owner told me the name of the connection between the chambers in a Nautilus shell can be remembered with this mnemonic. Combine the names of Simon and Garfunkle, Si and funkle and you get siphuncle.
posted by nickyskye at 11:37 AM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]
maiamaia, you have passed into a higher state of being where your enthusiasm for something fake *actually caused it to exist*.
A fairly awesome thing too. Thanks for creating it.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:21 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]
A fairly awesome thing too. Thanks for creating it.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:21 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]
Like a briiiiidge (between chambers in a Nautilus shell) under troubled waterssss...
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:22 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:22 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]
Owner here!
I started collecting these guys because of the "assemblage art from natural materials" angle which fit with the the things I was making. So I set up a little exhibit in the museum. Then visitors asked 1) Are those real or did you make them up?? and 2) Do you know about the Museum of Jurassic Technology? So now I just let people wonder, just the way you do at the MJT.
I've been inadvertently aided by the surprising fact that there is very little information elsewhere about Xenophora, so my exhibit has become a go-to link. I've never been able to track down more about the "kitten paw" quote and, as noted on the page, the original site that had the quote is gone. Any malacologists out there are welcome to weigh in!
posted by zymoglyphic at 12:54 PM on December 31, 2012 [6 favorites]
I started collecting these guys because of the "assemblage art from natural materials" angle which fit with the the things I was making. So I set up a little exhibit in the museum. Then visitors asked 1) Are those real or did you make them up?? and 2) Do you know about the Museum of Jurassic Technology? So now I just let people wonder, just the way you do at the MJT.
I've been inadvertently aided by the surprising fact that there is very little information elsewhere about Xenophora, so my exhibit has become a go-to link. I've never been able to track down more about the "kitten paw" quote and, as noted on the page, the original site that had the quote is gone. Any malacologists out there are welcome to weigh in!
posted by zymoglyphic at 12:54 PM on December 31, 2012 [6 favorites]
Yay! Very cool.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:20 PM on December 31, 2012
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:20 PM on December 31, 2012
Love your site zymoglyphic. Happy to see you in this thread. Just googled the kitten paw shell Xenophora connection, heh, and here is the reference from a Conchologists of America List Serve thread [emphasis mine]. And another link about the same conversation.
I read some messages about Xenophora being a favorite - and its a
favorite of mine. They are fascinating and certainly wonderful shell
collectors - actually collectors of a lot of things - coral, stones,
slag, glass, bottle caps, even coins!
About your question on why they place bivalves as they do, Dan, it is
much easier to cement a shell with the convex surface to their shell
than the concave. A friend of mine once had a Xenophora conchyliophora in his aquarium. It picked up a 'kitten's paw' which was still alive and cemented it in place - in about 15 seconds. The Plicatula gibbosa lived for about a month, and eventually the top shell fell off. I wonder if some of the bivalves they attach aren't alive when cemented on, too.
posted by nickyskye at 1:35 PM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]
I read some messages about Xenophora being a favorite - and its a
favorite of mine. They are fascinating and certainly wonderful shell
collectors - actually collectors of a lot of things - coral, stones,
slag, glass, bottle caps, even coins!
About your question on why they place bivalves as they do, Dan, it is
much easier to cement a shell with the convex surface to their shell
than the concave. A friend of mine once had a Xenophora conchyliophora in his aquarium. It picked up a 'kitten's paw' which was still alive and cemented it in place - in about 15 seconds. The Plicatula gibbosa lived for about a month, and eventually the top shell fell off. I wonder if some of the bivalves they attach aren't alive when cemented on, too.
posted by nickyskye at 1:35 PM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]
Ha! I always thought it referred to an actual paw, although I couldn't quite see how that was possible.
posted by zymoglyphic at 1:50 PM on December 31, 2012
posted by zymoglyphic at 1:50 PM on December 31, 2012
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Excuse me?
posted by dirtdirt at 8:55 AM on December 31, 2012 [11 favorites]