How to: Collect Razor Clams

Razor clam 'necks,' or siphons, peeking out of the shells (just barely).

Razor clam shells sometimes litter the beaches, but unless you know what to look for you can dig, and dig, and dig but never find one. They live in a long, deep burrow that allows them the ability to quickly retract their foot and descend deep into the sand beyond the fork tines of the most experienced digger.  

They have a very large t-shaped foot that makes this possible. Typically the razor clam is at the top of his burrow with his short siphons positioned right at the top of the sand. In this way, like any clam, he is able to filter feed plankton by cycling water in and out of his siphons. When I am looking to get a few razor clam specimens, I look for a hole in the sand that is rather oblong or oval in shape. 

Razor shell clams.

Bundles of razor clams.

In an area with soft-shelled clams, this can be a challenge as there are so many holes to choose from. Razor clams grow an inch or more in length each year. They resemble an old-style straight razor and hence their name. Asian markets are very fond of razor clams, but here in the U.S., it is uncommon to find them available in any seafood market. If you search on Youtube, one will find lots of videos of "salting" razor clams in the U.K. and on the Pacific coast of the U.S.

Good luck!

Tidepool Tim

How to: Collect Slipper Shells

Slipper shells on a sea scallop.

Last month my son and I caught a great tide and were up before the sun to head out along the beaches in search of some periwinkle snails. He and his siblings had been making a good bit of money all summer picking snails for the local buyers. These are commonly known as 'Escargot' but locally known as 'rinkles'. No one eats them here - they are trucked south to Boston and Providence to customers there. Call them what you want - our kids were making $10 - $30 for an hour or two of work picking snails at low tide on the beach in front of our house. Great work for them;  they have to be up early, traipse across the mud, and bend their backs carrying the heavy pails of snails back to our yard. A great life lesson.

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Back to our snail walk...it was a rather cold morning with a Northwest breeze blowing, but it did warm up quickly as the sun broke the horizon. The sun made for a great picture as it crested our local osprey nest.

Sun cresting the local osprey nest.

We quickly realized that another harvester had cleaned up all the snails along this particular beach - probably the day before. What we did not realize was that there would be such a great supply of common slipper shells!

Slipper shells are actually a kind of snail that's related to whelk snails and periwinkles. They are molluscs and are in the class Gastropoda. In some places, they are called 'boat shells'. They get their name from their shells.  If you find one of their shells on the beach, it has the unmistakable look of a slipper! They have a rosy color on the topside but underneath you will find a creamy white - mother of pearl type coating. They are kind of pretty!

Slipper shell.

Slipper shells are filter feeders so they are not cruising around on the rocks like Periwinkles or Limpets - they avoid all that competition. On this particular beach they are using the great supply of old sea scallop shells as a place to live, feed, and of course breed! Since they have such a strong 'foot' they can stay in one place attached to a rock or a scallop shell while taking advantage of the tidal currents and the food that is carried to them. To feed they simply relax their foot, open a gap between the substrate and their shell and let that food enriched water feed them to their hearts content!

Slipper shell on a mussel.

The most interesting thing about these little invertebrates is that they can change their sex from male to female to male and so on. They have a great system going for making new slipper shells (babies). Unlike some molluscs that just shed eggs and sperm into the sea water in the hopes that they will mix and form embryos, the slipper shells actually mate. To do this, they need to be in close proximity. They form a 'pig-pile' - it is great fun for them. The most we have seen in a pile is 6 shells! The largest slipper shell is at the bottom and the smallest at the top - kinda like a snowman. The bottom shell in the pile is the female. Males will attach to a female or to some other substrate such as a rock or old scallop shell. In this case, the male will turn into a female and then secrete a chemical into the water to attract a male! If the female at the bottom of a stack dies then each successive slipper shell in the stack must change sex from male to female and vice versa. What a life!

So my son did not make any money on this morning, but we did have a great father-son hike on the beach. We found some huge Northern Sea Stars (Starfish) - 16" across like this:

16" northern sea star.

Much to our surprise, we also found a big gelatinous gob of squid eggs attached to a rock right at the tideline! Great find!

Squid eggs.

There were some live Sea Scallops on the beach here and there. They are fun as they clap their shells and spit water sometimes. Our local bay grows some beautiful sea scallops. This is due to the fact that we have such huge tidal currents and nutrient rich waters supporting lots of plankton (scallop food). Scallop fishing season is during the winter and spring. Local boats will land 120 lbs of scallop meats each day - this is about 3 - 5 gallon pails of meats - wow!

Live sea scallop.

Connections

Humans always like to learn about how particular species relate to people. I am not quite sure how a slipper shell affect us. In some places oyster farms consider slipper shells pests. They attach to the shells of oysters and compete with them for food. I personally have never tried eating a slipper shell - but it does make sense that they would be pretty tasty. I do eat snails, clams, oysters, mussels, and scallops so why not slipper shells? Maybe next time I get some I will give them a try!

Finding slipper shells

If you want to find slipper shells on a beach walk or in a tidepool, here is my advice.  It will be best to do your collecting during spring tides. A slipper shell is essentially a 'sub-tidal' organism and it does not really want to be left high and dry by the receding waters. Look for slipper shells on the sides of rocks - not the top. They tend to be on the bottom of shells. They like to keep a low profile - out of sight out of mind - perhaps to prevent getting eaten...?

If you are looking for some slipper shell specimens...

We will collect fresh, live slipper shells and ship them out to you immediately. Our biological supply company works hand in hand with some of the largest college biology programs, aquariums, and research institutes in the country!

Thanks for reading!

Tidepool Tim

See you out on the beaches :)

How to: Collect Dwarf Brittlestars

Wow - pouring rain here in Maine today!  Nice to be inside, but I need to go dig some sandworms - guess I will be getting wet.

I want to share my collecting notes from yesterday when I found dwarf brittlestars, genus Axiognathus, in a local tidepool. It took me years of chancing upon these little echinoderms before I realized that they were not just small daisy brittlestars, genus Ophiopholus, but a new species to me. I needed to find a few dozens of these critters for a Gulf of Maine, Inc. customer, and with my experience, I knew right where to find them.

The key habitat for Dwarf Brittlestars seems to be in shell mounds. We find them hidden among cast blue mussel shells. They are a bit hard to spot at first, and they are not kidding when they call them "BRITTLE" stars. Not only are they tiny, one has to handle them with kid gloves so to say. The best way to pick them up it to not directly pick them up. We scrape them onto shell pieces so that when they end up in our buckets, they go substrate and all.

So I headed to the tidepool on a sunny morning and managed to hit the tide at just the right time. Dwarf Brittlestars prefer to be subtidal, but you can find them at the lower end of low tides in your area. I believe that like any tidal specimen as long as they can stay moist and protected during the drain off of the sea they will survive until the flood tide comes again.

Collection

Brittle star.

I use my hands like a small dredge in low wet areas to scoop up handfuls of shells and debris and then I spread this out on a flat surface like a rock or on a ledge. Then by carefully sifting through each shell I can look for their fuzzy little arms (rays) to tip me off to where they are hiding. Often you will see only one ray protruding from the shells, but with experience they become easier to spot.  I am not sure, but I think these guys feed on detritus. Whenever I get a big order of these for Gulf of Maine, Inc. I try and find a submerged mound of shells that seems well silted and muddy. The muddier the shell mound the better the habitat. Once I found a one gallon plastic milk jug that had been sitting on the sea floor for a long time. When we emptied it of muddy silt, out came a pile of dwarf brittles. It makes sense that this habitat would work well for them not only for feeding, but for protection.

Dwarf brittle stars.

It did not take me long to get the stars I needed to fill my order and to head off to work. I saw lots of sylky sea cucumbers, limpets, scuds, trumpet worms, and other inverts as I collected but did not need any of those at this time. Will get those later - it was time to head out. Lots to do as I have been away from the office for about three weeks and it is time to catch up.  

Catch me next time in the tidepools!

Tidepool Tim