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Shells as Heritage History Around
the Southern Tip of Africa
Yvonne Hope
We have all
seen the splendidly decorative shells in
glass-fronted display
cabinets. Some are chosen for
size, some for form –
spiney, twisted, knobbly, ridged,
ribbed – and some for colour
and pattern.
Many of these
shells are found in equatorial zones.
Molluscs (the live
animal and its shell) grow bigger
and more colourful in warmer waters.
Here, at the
southern tip of Africa, molluscs have to adapt
to
warm and cold currents, frequent wild and
pounding seas,
rocky coasts sparsely covered with
red or green algae
compared to warmer oceans.
The West Coast has far fewer
varieties in a
family and sometimes none exist.
Examples of
this are the Turban shells (Turbanidae)
and the Nerites (Neritidae).
Our lovely
Giant turban or Alikreukel (a gastropod
or single-footed
animal) is found from Cape Point to
Port Elizabeth. It
has been harvested by coast
dwellers from the earliest of
times. Middens
(discarded shell heaps) show us layers of
shells people harvested. Sadly even this abundant
mollusc is
over-harvested. Five per person per
day is the rule and sacks of
shells can be found
dumped after a weekend.
Perlemoen
or Abalone ( Haliotis midae) is also a
limpet and gastropod which
fetches huge prices as
an afrodisiac delicacy. It grows to
114mm
after 13 years. Harvesting was banned in 2008.
(Two
Oceans, G. Branch, M.Branch, C. Griffiths,
L. Beckley)
Today - 2021 –
the really large shells are scarce.
There are Abalone farms
filling the commercial
and replacement needs. “If you take
and don’t
replace you destroy” – Y. Hope.
Collections of
shells have been donated to the
Shell & Sea Life Museum
and some by
beachcombers who were active for 57
years. I
have an Abalone shell measuring 170mm
across. Midden shells
give a good idea of size in
past eras and comparisons
with shells gathered
today show how large a mollusc can
grow if left alone.
Our Southern
coast has a huge diversity of molluscs,
not the most exotic or
decorative, but hardy and well
adapted. The limpet family
occur all around our coast
and more than 50% of those can be
found here.
The limpets exposed in inter-tidal zones are
covered
in black algae for disguise on the dark rocks.
Limpets
are also territorial and live within their
regenerative
gardens of algae.
During my
nineteen years of beachcombing and
cleaning-up around the
Southern Coast I have
verified that the donated shells are
found locally.
I do not buy exotic shells as most are taken live.
People have given me beautiful collections they can
no longer
accommodate or take with them.
I display those as well as marine
animal egg
cases (sharks), shell egg cases (Nautilus)
and
mollusc egg cases. (Yes, all shells grow from eggs
or
larvae). I also display ‘constructions’ of that
other sea-life – plastic.
So keep that
shell your grandparents valued so
much. Give it to a collector
or sell it. I find it
impossible to trash a shell – take it to an
ocean
where it becomes sand for you.
Amongst my
collection of books on shells is
the TWO OCEANS A guide
to the marine
life of southern Africa by G.Branch,
M.Branch,
C.Griffiths, L. Beckley – an invaluable
source
of
information.
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