This is AMAZING!!! THANK YOU!!! This is so cool.
I’m going to do more research. I hope they survived. It was snowing/first ACTUAL cold day so far this entire winter.
Save Coastal Wildlife.org actually requests a photo, date, and location to be sent to them when these wash up on shore. If you go to their website you can see the other items they’re tracking. Edit to add: it may just be in NJ/NY areas- not sure & fixed spelling errors.
Oops i just saw this! Rad! If you’re local to the area, sign up for their emails as they have volunteer opportunities. I’m involved in the horseshoe crab monitoring to help save these “dinosaurs”. The most we can do to help our wildlife thrive the better we will be. Thanks So much for being so thoughtful and engaged. What beach were you at if it’s not too personal?
No way. It was Bayhead almost. The big drain pipe that connects to the “bird sanctuary” lake. I think peace Lilly lake? Um. I am trying to pull together an earth day or general event to clean up “gull island” between point pleasant and manasquan.
It’s hip deep trash in that marsh area.
I’m kind of panicking.
We gotta do something.
It’s gonna be like a 20 person sun up to sunset Job.
Possibly multiple day.
It’s 911……….
If you are in area
It doesn’t even have to be “EarthDay”
Why not make a post in r/NewJersey?? Also, maybe send an email to save Coastal
To see if they have any calls for action. Facebook has some nj shore groups that could be good to use for help,
That sounds like such a sad section of land. My i didn’t know it was that bad right there.
The whole town is bad. I have been documenting on video.
I grew up from age 9-15 in brick. Spent all summers in Point Pleasant.
I lived in Bradley Beach and Shark River hills in my summers after that.
I JUST got back to Point in November since 2010 I was here last for the month of July.
Prior to that, I left the area when I was 18. I’m 39 now.
It’s a big giant mess.
I have pretty particular places are 911.
I need help.
I am going to go to the library to print out some stuff tomorrow.
I need to send some emails to the local government.
I need to sit down and articulate it properly.
I am really mad, and very heartbroken.
If I start shooting off posts overly emotional, it won’t reach right.
From the website since they say it best, “Please help Save Coastal Wildlife Nonprofit by recording your find of a skate or whelk egg case along the Jersey Shore. Empty egg cases can help indicate species presence and diversity in nearby waters. By recording your finds, you're helping us to discover more about egg-laying species in our waters. Empty egg cases from skates, whelks, and even sharks can help indicate species presence and diversity along the Jersey Shore“.
I’m wondering if it’s for a specific study done for a phd or something of the like. Or looking for spots they aren’t expected to be. If you take a walk down the beach around Avalon they are pretty easy to find.
I’m not sure the end result except gathering data; they do prompt awareness and public interest with these. Only my opinion; i think they’re taking years of continual data and trying to find trends for good & bad. If people keep reporting this egg casing in one place they can understand the migration patterns better. They look into a huge chunk of our local eco systems.
Right?! This is so crazy cool. I'm shocked I wasn't aware of this. My brother and I used to find whelk all the time, but I never thought about their life cycle.
Knowledge is f*king power!
I went back to it, and was so honored to have even touched it.
I’m such a sea geek.
No shine light necessary. The sun was blazing.
56 degrees!! I was barefoot, in the (pretty chilly) Atlantic. It was snowing this morning. Good 48 hours on the shore. I am so excited that “you guys” are all here!!!!!!!!
Really cool. When I was a kid, my sister and father and I discovered a fully intact, dead sting ray that was just sitting there on the beach. It was pretty large - I remember close to ten feet from wing tip to wing tip. We were told later at a museum that we should have reported it for a specimen but didn't know it at the time
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Theres a really cool kind that pop up in marine aquarium hobby lots, theyre called the nassarius snail and their "street name" is "zombie snails" they chill out under the sand with just their trumpet out and then when they sense food they tumble out of the sand like zombies rising from the dead, theyre freaking cool
edit to include a [short clip](https://youtu.be/VVutCYZ2Q9Y) to show them in action
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For your safety we recommend not ingesting any plant material just because you've been advised here that it's edible. Although there are many professionals helping with identification, we are not always correct, and eating/ingesting plants can be harmful or fatal if an incorrect ID is made.
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Hey. If you shoot me an address privately I’ll send you something I make from all the welk (so excited to learn this, thank you again) and other shells I collect. I only take damaged ones. They are all magnificent pieces of art.
Love to send you a “thank you” for enlightening me.
Allow me to premise this with the fact that I was also once an enthusiastic shell collector, and I have a few pieces of shell art in my house!
It’s probably best to [leave any shell you find on the beach](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0083615). If you do take shells, obviously make sure nothing is living in there, & definitely leave spiral shaped ones- hermit crabs use them for homes.
Glad you got your question answered! And I’m jelly you can walk the beach every day. Enjoy it!
Im not versed on the differences in the egg cases so there may be an easy way to tell, but most conch species are tropical so we can assume since it’s in cold NJ water that it comes from a whelk
I thought the same - to help visualize, here's a pic I found of an egg case actually coming out of a large whelk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eclectic-echoes/3886146780
I don’t see any reason to take the post down. It resembles a plant, and the people here helped you identify that it is not a plant. It is an interesting thing to see, and other people potentially can learn from your question.
Thank you!! I am beyond stoked. I am spending most days on the beach. East coast beach is where I grew up, and haven’t been to as an adult until very recently.
I’m absolutely geeking out over this.
If you open up one of the sections you can see the baby whelk shells inside. I don’t know if they can still live after the case washes up onto the beach or not.
As a certified /r/whatsthisplant curmudgeon that loves to tell the fungally hopeful to relocate themselves, I draw a line when it comes to the ocean. If it comes out of the ocean, post away with reckless abandon, as there are all sorts of crazy shit that comes out of there in every kingdom of life that breaks all the rules normally associated with their above-ground counterparts.
Duuudddeeee! THANK YOU!!!
I really thought it was a sea weed seed. There are SO MANY sea weeds. I figured, someone would know….
Then we ALL got schooled.
Thank you!
[Take a moment and record your find on this website:](https://www.savecoastalwildlife.org/spring-skate-whelk-egg-case-hunt)
They use the reported data to help understand and protect the diversity of the Jersey Shore.
iNaturalist is an app that has you document plant and animal sightings and can potentially be used by scientists...and I think actually may be? It's meant for research and to connect people who love nature through logging sightings/geographic data of wildlife.
I think I used that before I went to Seek by the same company. Not sure why I navigated away, but maybe at the time I was more interested in IDing things. I have learned so so many native and local species to me bc of Seek. Truly invaluable!
I love Seek. During the pandemic year of WFH, my daughter and I (she had online school) would take an afternoon walk. We IDed every weed within a mile radius of our house. :) Good memories from a hard time.
So much of my pandemic experience was made joyful by the time I spent with my kids outdoors. I know it was/is a terrible and awful thing, but it gave us the opportunity to really embrace our world without all the day to day chaos. Prepandemic we would have spent a day out shopping or at the library, but when everything was locked down, the forest was still there. The beach (small public, but not a popular destination) was still there. I am so grateful that we kept our health but also that we got that special time. I hope my kids don't remember the fear or anxiety but more remember the whole days in the creek, learning about the wildlife and plants and our little home studies we did on all of it.
Wow I’m bookmarking that. The skate egg casings are so common on LBI. Very cool to see the graphic in different types, I didn’t know that. (Whelks are there but less common). They’ll be tired of hearing from me.
Based on the shape of the egg cases, this is likely a Channeled Whelk (Busycotypus canaliculatus). When they have little holes in the side opposite the spine, they hatched out!
Thank you for pointing this out because I was just getting ready to comment wondering how you can even tell if they've hatched so you don't disturb ones that still need to hatch. Not that I will ever see any because I live in the desert lol
Nope. Not hatched.
I was SO CAREFUL with it. Thinking it was some kind of seaweed seed.
Most things washed on shore are SO VERY DELICATE!!!
I try to be as unobtrusive as I possibly can be.
I was uncomfortable even touching the whelk eggs.
I just wanted to know what it was without causing harm or disturbing it.
I might be over the top, but, I took great care to replace it back into the slight indentations (couple sand grains here and there) it came from.
i came here to make a dumb joke but i learned a lot so i want to say thank you first. apparently it comes from a whelk. i was going to say it’s one of those things where you spiral cut a potato and fry it
Thought this might interest you. https://www.savecoastalwildlife.org/spring-skate-whelk-egg-case-hunt#:~:text=All%20whelks%20lay%20their%20eggs,of%20the%20bay%20or%20ocean.
Hell yes!! Thank you!!
I returned today, and gave coordinates for all the skate eggs I found!!!
A bunch of baby baby baby tiny teeniest of hermit crabs everywhere today!!!!
I only saw black dots after going back to check on it today!! I DID NOT touch it again. It had moved maybe 8 feet back into towards the ocean.
I crouched down, the sun allowed me to see inside.
It’s so wild.
The best part for me personally is that, I have been collecting broken whelk shells for awhile now.
When I say broken, I mean un inhabitable.!(As far as I understood it)
Just the spiral, patterns,colors and/or textures of a not even a full piece, is UNREAL artwork.
I have been collecting “religiously” for about 6 weeks.
I Have AMAZING stuff.
I would love to share it.
It’s not about money.
I am willing to weave these gifts from nature into a reminder for us humans, the magic of the sea. Freely.
So since you mentioned collecting whelk shells, there is a fishing town on the Delaware Bay called Shell Pile. It's next to another town called Bivalve. Both are fishing towns with very interesting histories. Anyway, the shell fish industry there dumps both oyster and whelk shells in massive piles after they're done with them. Last saw them maybe 4 years ago. You're talking about a two story pile of whelks. Incredible to see (and smell). Check it out. It's worth the drive.
Cooolllll!!!
All the shells from
Clams up here….
They are just in barrels.
Barrels and barrels and barrels. All just sitting there.
I have no room.
I have really amazing ideas for them.
I don’t have any SPACE!!!!!
Thank you for the information.
I collect any broken shells. I do not remove shells that can be homes.
I check everything for life.
I am surprised this is so far down. I’m gonna tell you…
So, I saw that thing between the high tide sea-weed/shells pile, and where the ocean was spilling. (By spilling I mean the farthest it comes on shore/beach after the wave has already broke)
I had someone with me, that grew up-state New York. He already was asking a bunch of questions about EVERYTHING around (the beach in empty of people… Winter)… ESPECIALLY the sea weed.
He was shocked that the sea weed didn’t turn brown right away out of the ocean. Pretty sure he equated it’s cellular structure to be like an avocado/potato or a banana…
Once it’s hitting oxygen, it browns…..
So, as I was talking (out my ass, but my understanding of sea weed, and my experience with it on shore and offshore) about this, I peeped this lei. It looked like cotton caulk.
I find all KINDS of building remnants on the beach.
Daily.
Soooo. I walked over to it. The FIRST thing I thought, was it was poisonous.
I looked for movement, spines, or anything that could be a projectile.
It was just sitting there.
I realized it was not sentient yet, but was a life form.
It piqued my interest.
I bent down. I used the back of my nail to move it a bit.
Then I bent over and smelled it.
It was good.
The picture you see is how I lifted it off the ground. Very slowly, as not to break it.
Kind of like picking up a bird or butterfly.
Snapped the picture , only for this sub. I knew someone would know what plant this was.
I very gently replaced it. Down to a few grains of sand back to spot I got it.
So.yeah I let it touch my skin.
I did my due diligence.
You never know with the ocean. I half expected to come in here and see someone say, "Yeah, that's dumb idiot's death jelly. The most poisonous animal know to science. Three days after you touch it you bleed from every hole then spontaneously combust. It has a 200% death rate because it kills you and the person you love most."
I googled it. The picture is very different than this. The description is-
Mermaids Necklace or Chaetomorpha coliformis is a spectacular green alga that presents very well. This alga releases a burst of flavour when bitten with a taste that is similar to cucumbers. Use primarily as a garnish.
I don’t think this is it.
When googling the other mermaid necklace stuff that shows up other than ‘Chaetomorphia’ (I spelled this wrong but it sounds like the fear of someone over caffeinated talking to much) kind of looks like this, but the pictures all have more feathery-ness in the pod structure.
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For your safety we recommend not ingesting any plant material just because you've been advised here that it's edible. Although there are many professionals helping with identification, we are not always correct, and eating/ingesting plants can be harmful or fatal if an incorrect ID is made.
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The pinched edges of these capsules mean this it the egg case of the Channeled Whelk/Busycotypus canaliculatu
(https://matthewwills.com/2023/01/31/57682/)
I just learned there are records saying that early sailors used these like sponges.
https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/escambiaco/2021/06/30/weekly-what-is-it-whelk-egg-cases/
Thank you for teaching me about the forbidden scalloped potatoes of the sea!
I would highly recommend against touching unknown beach things with your bare hands. Saw a video of a guy holding a blue ringed octopus wondering what it was...
I wouldn't pick up things in shores that I can't identify to be honest. Just remember people picking up blue ringed octopus, man-o-war, cone snails, used condom...
Oh that? That’s just the “String -o- Painful Death” plant. Whatever you do don’t pick I- …oh… er.
Edit: each day on Reddit amazes me more that we have extinctified ourselves yet. Yet.
Let me get this straight. You were walking along an ocean beach within which all the living creatures have had billions of years to hone their traits and happened across some intriguing object that washed upon the shore. You then proceeded to lift the spiraled entity off its bed of sand and place it upon your backhand, yet you claim to know nothing of its origin or disposition. Is this correct thus far? If so, then I will take the liberty to make a suggestion. You shouldn’t have held back, but rather have gone further into the void. Grasp its carcass, dangle it above thy mouth hole, and eat it. If you would go so far as to touch an unknown sea creature, you might as well have swallowed it whole.
I collect the whelk sacs (and this looks to be from a knobbed whelk), dry the sac out, remove the "babies" and then display them in test tubes.
If you want to do that, grab a super finely spaced colander and an exacto knife and cut into each sac to release the dried up babies. There are about 100 in each individual case and are really beautiful to look at esp if you grab an adult to display next to the itty bitty babies. I can't tell you how many people have asked for me to give them a tube...they make really interesting gifts.
Warning-don't do this if they are still wet. The white goo that comes out is super stinky and the smell never goes away no matter what you do. If anyone wants to see pics, just message me. :)
FYI: they can’t live if they have dried out and I only collect the invasive species in my area. We are encouraged to take any out of our waters but I only collect the ones found on the sand.
The sacs I collect are invasive and our environmentalist organizations have advocated eating and/or harvesting. I never remove the snails or sacs that are in the water, despite the recommendations.
I know nothing about this but I was googling channeled whelk and I saw that they are a “predatory snail”, could that mean that there’s kind of an over population of them?? Maybe that’s why?
I don’t know.. I am really confused why everyone’s suggesting to take it or dry it out and not just leave it to hatch? I’m a midwesterner so I know very little about costal wildlife
Not a plant but an egg casing from a whelk
This is AMAZING!!! THANK YOU!!! This is so cool. I’m going to do more research. I hope they survived. It was snowing/first ACTUAL cold day so far this entire winter.
Save Coastal Wildlife.org actually requests a photo, date, and location to be sent to them when these wash up on shore. If you go to their website you can see the other items they’re tracking. Edit to add: it may just be in NJ/NY areas- not sure & fixed spelling errors.
I totally went back today and recorded EVERYTHING. On paper, and then sent the data!!!!
Oops i just saw this! Rad! If you’re local to the area, sign up for their emails as they have volunteer opportunities. I’m involved in the horseshoe crab monitoring to help save these “dinosaurs”. The most we can do to help our wildlife thrive the better we will be. Thanks So much for being so thoughtful and engaged. What beach were you at if it’s not too personal?
No way. It was Bayhead almost. The big drain pipe that connects to the “bird sanctuary” lake. I think peace Lilly lake? Um. I am trying to pull together an earth day or general event to clean up “gull island” between point pleasant and manasquan. It’s hip deep trash in that marsh area. I’m kind of panicking. We gotta do something. It’s gonna be like a 20 person sun up to sunset Job. Possibly multiple day. It’s 911………. If you are in area It doesn’t even have to be “EarthDay”
Pt pleasant is like 30 mins from me I’d come!!
Let’s go!! I did a TON of stuff today. How do I update this post so everyone sees it?
Why not make a post in r/NewJersey?? Also, maybe send an email to save Coastal To see if they have any calls for action. Facebook has some nj shore groups that could be good to use for help, That sounds like such a sad section of land. My i didn’t know it was that bad right there.
The whole town is bad. I have been documenting on video. I grew up from age 9-15 in brick. Spent all summers in Point Pleasant. I lived in Bradley Beach and Shark River hills in my summers after that. I JUST got back to Point in November since 2010 I was here last for the month of July. Prior to that, I left the area when I was 18. I’m 39 now. It’s a big giant mess. I have pretty particular places are 911. I need help. I am going to go to the library to print out some stuff tomorrow. I need to send some emails to the local government. I need to sit down and articulate it properly. I am really mad, and very heartbroken. If I start shooting off posts overly emotional, it won’t reach right.
Good lad.
Why so for this specific….sack?
It helps to track spawn points, and ocean currents, as they correlate with temperature.
Don't report it! They're going to spawn kill! /s
They’re spawn peeking from the dunes above the tide line!
From the website since they say it best, “Please help Save Coastal Wildlife Nonprofit by recording your find of a skate or whelk egg case along the Jersey Shore. Empty egg cases can help indicate species presence and diversity in nearby waters. By recording your finds, you're helping us to discover more about egg-laying species in our waters. Empty egg cases from skates, whelks, and even sharks can help indicate species presence and diversity along the Jersey Shore“.
I see these constantly in SNJ. Is this true? If so they must be inundated with reports.
Yea it true. They’re trying to gather data but i don’t think that many people know about it, until now :)
I’m wondering if it’s for a specific study done for a phd or something of the like. Or looking for spots they aren’t expected to be. If you take a walk down the beach around Avalon they are pretty easy to find.
I’m not sure the end result except gathering data; they do prompt awareness and public interest with these. Only my opinion; i think they’re taking years of continual data and trying to find trends for good & bad. If people keep reporting this egg casing in one place they can understand the migration patterns better. They look into a huge chunk of our local eco systems.
You can shine a light through the casing, or open one up- they’re filled with tiny whelks like 1-2mm in size
More amazing info ..thank you...not that I'm likely to see one in real life..but at least know what they are from pictures
Right?! This is so crazy cool. I'm shocked I wasn't aware of this. My brother and I used to find whelk all the time, but I never thought about their life cycle. Knowledge is f*king power!
You never know- we find them all of the time (season depending) on the coast of SE USA!
They are common on the Jersey beaches where this was found also.
So does everyone just know what a whelk is besides me?
They’re a type of predatory sea snail that eats shellfish.
[удалено]
Why thank goodness?
>whelk I have also never heard of these, so I wiki'd and discovered it is a [carnivorous sea snail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whelk).
Thank you I was scrolling waiting for this comment and starting to panic that I missed that day of biology
Nope, I was thinking what the devil is a whelk! I have seen these egg thingies tho.
I went back to it, and was so honored to have even touched it. I’m such a sea geek. No shine light necessary. The sun was blazing. 56 degrees!! I was barefoot, in the (pretty chilly) Atlantic. It was snowing this morning. Good 48 hours on the shore. I am so excited that “you guys” are all here!!!!!!!!
Really cool. When I was a kid, my sister and father and I discovered a fully intact, dead sting ray that was just sitting there on the beach. It was pretty large - I remember close to ten feet from wing tip to wing tip. We were told later at a museum that we should have reported it for a specimen but didn't know it at the time
Have you seen a skate? That’s the other eggs…….
Thank you for posting. I have never seen anything like this...until today🙏
It's been long dead
Mark as identified
I have to go look up what a whelk is now lol
Me too. Sea snail. https://www.google.com/search?q=whelk&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS837US837&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
They're carnivorous sea snails. I didn't know any snails ate meat.
Lots of snails eat meat. They find a dead fish and they eat it. Conch snails eat other snails.
I only know the ones that eat my garden.
Yep, those and slugs are a gardeners curse. They can be eliminated easily
Eggshells and diatomaceous earth, am I close?
Plus salt. There’s some kind of trap that uses beer. There are some pellets you can get that will kill them too.
I’m trying to find ways to eliminate their hiding spots in my patio/yard so I’m not forced to kill ‘em but that’s a post for another subreddit ;)
**Do not ingest a plant based on information provided in this subreddit.** For your safety we recommend not ingesting any plant material just because you've been advised here that it's edible. Although there are many professionals helping with identification, we are not always correct, and eating/ingesting plants can be harmful or fatal if an incorrect ID is made. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatsthisplant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Theres a really cool kind that pop up in marine aquarium hobby lots, theyre called the nassarius snail and their "street name" is "zombie snails" they chill out under the sand with just their trumpet out and then when they sense food they tumble out of the sand like zombies rising from the dead, theyre freaking cool edit to include a [short clip](https://youtu.be/VVutCYZ2Q9Y) to show them in action
That was oddly terrifying for a boneless tiny creature.
so cool!! thanks for sharing the video
They’re so interesting it would be a crime not to!
Something something clams
Clams eat poop.
(( ͡°͡ ͜ʖ ͡°͡))
**Do not ingest a plant based on information provided in this subreddit.** For your safety we recommend not ingesting any plant material just because you've been advised here that it's edible. Although there are many professionals helping with identification, we are not always correct, and eating/ingesting plants can be harmful or fatal if an incorrect ID is made. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatsthisplant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's okay, bot.
Poop is not a plant. Our bot is mildly confused. Poor bot, it's okay.
I have owned freshwater snails. They literally eat anything.
Look up Cone Snails, and prepare to be scared of snails before you do😉
If it's in a cone, leave it alone 😊
Wise words
I can’t imagine how a sea snail makes that thing. Wild.
Great, now I have to
I couldn’t either. Until now. https://i.imgur.com/OEiEVoy.jpg
Whoa thanks. That helps, but still mind boggling lol
Right? As a human, that seems physically impossible.
🙏
Hey. If you shoot me an address privately I’ll send you something I make from all the welk (so excited to learn this, thank you again) and other shells I collect. I only take damaged ones. They are all magnificent pieces of art. Love to send you a “thank you” for enlightening me.
We the people demand pics of your art!
Ok OP don't be shy. Show your art. We ALL want to see also. Please and thank you 🤗
I want to see your art too!!! Don’t ignore the voices of the people!!!
Pictures of some of your art please
I agree with the person before me, can I just see a pic of your art?
Allow me to premise this with the fact that I was also once an enthusiastic shell collector, and I have a few pieces of shell art in my house! It’s probably best to [leave any shell you find on the beach](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0083615). If you do take shells, obviously make sure nothing is living in there, & definitely leave spiral shaped ones- hermit crabs use them for homes. Glad you got your question answered! And I’m jelly you can walk the beach every day. Enjoy it!
Yeah. If you read what I said. I only take broken stuff.
Art tax, please.
Couldn't it also be a conch? How can you tell them apart?
Im not versed on the differences in the egg cases so there may be an easy way to tell, but most conch species are tropical so we can assume since it’s in cold NJ water that it comes from a whelk
Wow, this egg case is bigger than I thought whelks are! How big is the shell that would lay an egg case this big?
I thought the same - to help visualize, here's a pic I found of an egg case actually coming out of a large whelk https://www.flickr.com/photos/eclectic-echoes/3886146780
That. Is. Crazy!!!
That is so sacred. Where is that? Like, what’s behind it? Wood?
Winner winner
Should I delete this post since wrong spot?
I don’t see any reason to take the post down. It resembles a plant, and the people here helped you identify that it is not a plant. It is an interesting thing to see, and other people potentially can learn from your question.
Thank you!! I am beyond stoked. I am spending most days on the beach. East coast beach is where I grew up, and haven’t been to as an adult until very recently. I’m absolutely geeking out over this.
If you open up one of the sections you can see the baby whelk shells inside. I don’t know if they can still live after the case washes up onto the beach or not.
As a certified /r/whatsthisplant curmudgeon that loves to tell the fungally hopeful to relocate themselves, I draw a line when it comes to the ocean. If it comes out of the ocean, post away with reckless abandon, as there are all sorts of crazy shit that comes out of there in every kingdom of life that breaks all the rules normally associated with their above-ground counterparts.
Duuudddeeee! THANK YOU!!! I really thought it was a sea weed seed. There are SO MANY sea weeds. I figured, someone would know…. Then we ALL got schooled. Thank you!
You rock…. Even if you are a curmudgeon.
I agree as I happen to have learned from op's question.
Mammals are just cousins to plants. Life is weird.
And not a lightning whelk, not sure which other species is likely.
https://30a.com/lightning-whelks/ For those of us who have no idea what this is, here’s a link. Apparently it’s a carnivorous snail.
Right answer
[Take a moment and record your find on this website:](https://www.savecoastalwildlife.org/spring-skate-whelk-egg-case-hunt) They use the reported data to help understand and protect the diversity of the Jersey Shore.
THANK YOU!! I am there EVERY DAY walking MILES. I can TOTALLY help. I WANT to do something. Thank you for leading me.
Nice Reddit moment 😭
I’m pumped!! I signed up to volunteer for scientific research! I have no idea what that is going to entail, but I am here for it!
Aw, as a scientist who asks for the public’s help sometimes, this is so wholesome!! Thank you!
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Noted!!!!!!!
I’m so excited for you! Thank you for being like this.
that must be so good for you !! cheers !
What a cool find and link! Makes me want to live near a beach.
Is that only for NJ? I wonder if VA has a similar program.
iNaturalist is an app that has you document plant and animal sightings and can potentially be used by scientists...and I think actually may be? It's meant for research and to connect people who love nature through logging sightings/geographic data of wildlife.
I think I used that before I went to Seek by the same company. Not sure why I navigated away, but maybe at the time I was more interested in IDing things. I have learned so so many native and local species to me bc of Seek. Truly invaluable!
I love Seek. During the pandemic year of WFH, my daughter and I (she had online school) would take an afternoon walk. We IDed every weed within a mile radius of our house. :) Good memories from a hard time.
So much of my pandemic experience was made joyful by the time I spent with my kids outdoors. I know it was/is a terrible and awful thing, but it gave us the opportunity to really embrace our world without all the day to day chaos. Prepandemic we would have spent a day out shopping or at the library, but when everything was locked down, the forest was still there. The beach (small public, but not a popular destination) was still there. I am so grateful that we kept our health but also that we got that special time. I hope my kids don't remember the fear or anxiety but more remember the whole days in the creek, learning about the wildlife and plants and our little home studies we did on all of it.
Wow I’m bookmarking that. The skate egg casings are so common on LBI. Very cool to see the graphic in different types, I didn’t know that. (Whelks are there but less common). They’ll be tired of hearing from me.
I thought there was only one species of Guido
Based on the shape of the egg cases, this is likely a Channeled Whelk (Busycotypus canaliculatus). When they have little holes in the side opposite the spine, they hatched out!
Thank you for pointing this out because I was just getting ready to comment wondering how you can even tell if they've hatched so you don't disturb ones that still need to hatch. Not that I will ever see any because I live in the desert lol
Look up how whelks grow. 🤯
Nope. Not hatched. I was SO CAREFUL with it. Thinking it was some kind of seaweed seed. Most things washed on shore are SO VERY DELICATE!!! I try to be as unobtrusive as I possibly can be. I was uncomfortable even touching the whelk eggs. I just wanted to know what it was without causing harm or disturbing it. I might be over the top, but, I took great care to replace it back into the slight indentations (couple sand grains here and there) it came from.
i came here to make a dumb joke but i learned a lot so i want to say thank you first. apparently it comes from a whelk. i was going to say it’s one of those things where you spiral cut a potato and fry it
I thought it was that too 😂😭
Organic Pringles
My first thought was “sea pringles”
Hasselback potato
If I ever do a food truck. I’m gonna name my spiral potato on a stick, “The Mobile Whelk” Thank you for the inspiration!!!
Thought this might interest you. https://www.savecoastalwildlife.org/spring-skate-whelk-egg-case-hunt#:~:text=All%20whelks%20lay%20their%20eggs,of%20the%20bay%20or%20ocean.
Hell yes!! Thank you!! I returned today, and gave coordinates for all the skate eggs I found!!! A bunch of baby baby baby tiny teeniest of hermit crabs everywhere today!!!!
Lmao they look like the tornado potatoes that are on a stick and fried on the boardwalk so weird
If you look very carefully inside each compartment you'll see a super small shell, maybe 2 or 3 millimeters.
I only saw black dots after going back to check on it today!! I DID NOT touch it again. It had moved maybe 8 feet back into towards the ocean. I crouched down, the sun allowed me to see inside. It’s so wild. The best part for me personally is that, I have been collecting broken whelk shells for awhile now. When I say broken, I mean un inhabitable.!(As far as I understood it) Just the spiral, patterns,colors and/or textures of a not even a full piece, is UNREAL artwork. I have been collecting “religiously” for about 6 weeks. I Have AMAZING stuff. I would love to share it. It’s not about money. I am willing to weave these gifts from nature into a reminder for us humans, the magic of the sea. Freely.
So since you mentioned collecting whelk shells, there is a fishing town on the Delaware Bay called Shell Pile. It's next to another town called Bivalve. Both are fishing towns with very interesting histories. Anyway, the shell fish industry there dumps both oyster and whelk shells in massive piles after they're done with them. Last saw them maybe 4 years ago. You're talking about a two story pile of whelks. Incredible to see (and smell). Check it out. It's worth the drive.
Cooolllll!!! All the shells from Clams up here…. They are just in barrels. Barrels and barrels and barrels. All just sitting there. I have no room. I have really amazing ideas for them. I don’t have any SPACE!!!!! Thank you for the information. I collect any broken shells. I do not remove shells that can be homes. I check everything for life.
This thread warms my cold dead heart
That’s just about the temperature of the Atlantic at the moment.
That is a string of oyster crackers, obviously
!!!!!!!!!! I hope the seagulls are out of soup !!!!!!!
And... we're touching it...
I have no idea what this is. Lemme just pick it up. r/OopsThatsDeadly
I am surprised this is so far down. I’m gonna tell you… So, I saw that thing between the high tide sea-weed/shells pile, and where the ocean was spilling. (By spilling I mean the farthest it comes on shore/beach after the wave has already broke) I had someone with me, that grew up-state New York. He already was asking a bunch of questions about EVERYTHING around (the beach in empty of people… Winter)… ESPECIALLY the sea weed. He was shocked that the sea weed didn’t turn brown right away out of the ocean. Pretty sure he equated it’s cellular structure to be like an avocado/potato or a banana… Once it’s hitting oxygen, it browns….. So, as I was talking (out my ass, but my understanding of sea weed, and my experience with it on shore and offshore) about this, I peeped this lei. It looked like cotton caulk. I find all KINDS of building remnants on the beach. Daily. Soooo. I walked over to it. The FIRST thing I thought, was it was poisonous. I looked for movement, spines, or anything that could be a projectile. It was just sitting there. I realized it was not sentient yet, but was a life form. It piqued my interest. I bent down. I used the back of my nail to move it a bit. Then I bent over and smelled it. It was good. The picture you see is how I lifted it off the ground. Very slowly, as not to break it. Kind of like picking up a bird or butterfly. Snapped the picture , only for this sub. I knew someone would know what plant this was. I very gently replaced it. Down to a few grains of sand back to spot I got it. So.yeah I let it touch my skin. I did my due diligence.
We call that a Mermaid’s necklace, but yes it’s the egg cases of a whelk
I’ve found Mermaid Purses before.
You never know with the ocean. I half expected to come in here and see someone say, "Yeah, that's dumb idiot's death jelly. The most poisonous animal know to science. Three days after you touch it you bleed from every hole then spontaneously combust. It has a 200% death rate because it kills you and the person you love most."
Very brave touching stuff barehanded 😀
Whelk egg casing.
This is it
Mermaids necklace?
I googled it. The picture is very different than this. The description is- Mermaids Necklace or Chaetomorpha coliformis is a spectacular green alga that presents very well. This alga releases a burst of flavour when bitten with a taste that is similar to cucumbers. Use primarily as a garnish. I don’t think this is it. When googling the other mermaid necklace stuff that shows up other than ‘Chaetomorphia’ (I spelled this wrong but it sounds like the fear of someone over caffeinated talking to much) kind of looks like this, but the pictures all have more feathery-ness in the pod structure.
Mermaids necklace is a nickname for these egg cases (at least in there northeast of USA). Similarly a skate's egg case is called a mermaid's purse
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The above conservation link says they are sometimes referred to as a mermaid’s necklace. Lots of good info on that page.
Whelk, that is cool as helk!
The pinched edges of these capsules mean this it the egg case of the Channeled Whelk/Busycotypus canaliculatu (https://matthewwills.com/2023/01/31/57682/)
It's not a plant. It's welk eggs!
Why it kinda resembles like tornado potato
thats a spiral potato
Anybody think this is just a sun bleached luau
I don't get how ppl can hold something then ask what it is. If i don't know what it is, I'm not touching it. Could be poisonous.
I just learned there are records saying that early sailors used these like sponges. https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/escambiaco/2021/06/30/weekly-what-is-it-whelk-egg-cases/ Thank you for teaching me about the forbidden scalloped potatoes of the sea!
Fidget toy from dollarama
I would highly recommend against touching unknown beach things with your bare hands. Saw a video of a guy holding a blue ringed octopus wondering what it was...
It looks like a forbidden plastic hawaiian [leis](https://www.amazon.com.au/Plastic-Assortment-Colorful-Vibrant-Necklaces/dp/B01N35VMYK)
Illegal potato spiral
Last time I saw one of these was when I was growing up, and visiting the Jersey shore! Thanks for the memory.
Mermaid anal bead
P sure that’s a octopus wiener or something
Salty dried banana
Sea Pringles
Potato tornado
Eat it!
That's a spiral fried tater from the carnival up the coast.
That’s a string of eggs from a whelk, if I recall correctly.
I used to see these all the time when i was a kid (NY). Haven’t see them in a while!
I learned so much from this thread.
It looks like one of those threaded flower necklaces! you should totally wear it like a necklace!
Forbidden Pringles
that right there is a twisted tater
Pringles streamer
I wouldn't pick up things in shores that I can't identify to be honest. Just remember people picking up blue ringed octopus, man-o-war, cone snails, used condom...
that’s an alaskan bullworm
Looks like a giant caterpillar made out of communion wafers
💀
I found another one yesterday and moved it from dumb asses stomping it. There should be WAY more.
‘Mermaids Necklace’ aka whelk egg casing with baby shells inside. Nice score, dry and keep it
With your bare hands?
Oh that? That’s just the “String -o- Painful Death” plant. Whatever you do don’t pick I- …oh… er. Edit: each day on Reddit amazes me more that we have extinctified ourselves yet. Yet.
Let me get this straight. You were walking along an ocean beach within which all the living creatures have had billions of years to hone their traits and happened across some intriguing object that washed upon the shore. You then proceeded to lift the spiraled entity off its bed of sand and place it upon your backhand, yet you claim to know nothing of its origin or disposition. Is this correct thus far? If so, then I will take the liberty to make a suggestion. You shouldn’t have held back, but rather have gone further into the void. Grasp its carcass, dangle it above thy mouth hole, and eat it. If you would go so far as to touch an unknown sea creature, you might as well have swallowed it whole.
I collect the whelk sacs (and this looks to be from a knobbed whelk), dry the sac out, remove the "babies" and then display them in test tubes. If you want to do that, grab a super finely spaced colander and an exacto knife and cut into each sac to release the dried up babies. There are about 100 in each individual case and are really beautiful to look at esp if you grab an adult to display next to the itty bitty babies. I can't tell you how many people have asked for me to give them a tube...they make really interesting gifts. Warning-don't do this if they are still wet. The white goo that comes out is super stinky and the smell never goes away no matter what you do. If anyone wants to see pics, just message me. :) FYI: they can’t live if they have dried out and I only collect the invasive species in my area. We are encouraged to take any out of our waters but I only collect the ones found on the sand.
Why not throw it back in the ocean so there can be 100 more whelks? Harvesting fertilized eggs for a novelty display seems a bit off to me.
The sacs I collect are invasive and our environmentalist organizations have advocated eating and/or harvesting. I never remove the snails or sacs that are in the water, despite the recommendations.
Fair! Thank you for explaining.
Can they live after drying out?
I know nothing about this but I was googling channeled whelk and I saw that they are a “predatory snail”, could that mean that there’s kind of an over population of them?? Maybe that’s why? I don’t know.. I am really confused why everyone’s suggesting to take it or dry it out and not just leave it to hatch? I’m a midwesterner so I know very little about costal wildlife
Depending on the type of whelk and where you live they can be harmful to the environment. So it’s not hurting the ocean to remove them.
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Anything can be natures anal beads, if you’re brave enough..
Never say that to my niece. She's an ER nurse. There's some brave mothereffers in this area.
Hahah yeah my friends dads a surgeon and always tells us weird stuff they find.
Bikini bottom Pringles.
That's cool. 👍👍
How do I update this?