Help identifying these little guys...

[dizarray]

Thanks - I knew I had messed up the link somehow.
And I haven't actually "collected" any as of yet. I photographed them in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, this past weekend. There were TONS washed up on shore. From a standing position, they look like light purple pebbles or something. It's only when you get down close to them that you see they are tiny little shells.

[dizarray]

Anyone got any ideas? Thank you <img src="images/smiley/smile.gif" alt="" border="0" />

<a href="http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/dizarray/?action=view&current=shells.jpg" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/dizarray/?action=view&current=shells.jpg">http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/ ... shells.jpg</a><!-- m --></a>  <span class="petit">--Last edited by Paul Monfils on 2009-03-17 05:19:57 --</span>

[paul monfils]

HA HA  Is my face red!  Never thought I would get fooled by one my commonest local shells :-)  It's a matter of scale.  When I looked at your picture the first time I figured the bivalve was maybe 3 inches or so and the snails were maybe a half inch.  They kind of resembled immature Cerithium, but not really - which is why I asked about the locality.  Now that you tell me the location - a location where I myself have collected a number of times - I realize that both the bivalve and the snails are much smaller than I had estimated.  These are Bittium alternatum.  I believe it is the most abundant gastropod on the south shore of Cape Cod.  I have shaken a handful of seaweed in a bucket of water and come up with more than a thousand of them.  I'm in Providence.  I have collected in Fairhaven-Mattapoisett-Marion-Wareham many times.

[paul monfils]

Where were these collected?  (There was a problem with your link. I have edited it so that it works.)

[dizarray]

That's why I said "these little guys" LOL
I am not necessarily a shell collector - although at home I do have some bowls with quahog shells, conches (mostly broken), tiger eyes, etc.
Being a nature photographer, I wind up learning a little bit about a lot of things, as opposed to any ONE thing, like shell collecting. I've learned the names of many butterflies, dragonflies, birds, winter ducks, etc., simply from photographing them and then being curious as to their identity. My favorite subjects are mushrooms, but I'd rather look and admire than take apart and study...
I will have to take some photos of the big ol' hunk of petrified wood I found at Goodspeed Island and post it for you to see. That's my favorite find on that beach. <img src="images/smiley/smile.gif" alt="" border="0" />