The lightning whelk shell (Busycon contrarium) is commonly found along the southern U.S. beaches from the Carolinas to Texas. It is the official state shell of Texas.I think it is one of the most beautiful shells to find and they can grow to be very large – over a foot in length.
The lightning whelk lives in shallow, warmer water and searches the sandy bottom for it’s food. They use their strong shell to pry open other shells to eat what’s inside. Like many gastropods, they use their tongue (radula) to eat and they eat bivalves (shells with two parts), such as clams and oysters. Larger whelks – such as the horse conch- will feed on the lightning whelk.
The shell of the lightning whelk is striped with light tan markings, but the most unusual characteristic of this shell is that the opening is opposite of most other single shelled mollusks (known as univalves). When holding the shell from it’s pointed bottom, the opening will be on the left, instead of the right. This is how it has become known as the left-handed (or sinistral) seashell.
