Shell ID help?!

[paul monfils]

Hi Linzi,

It would have been difficult to make a guess based only on the small piece of the shell that remains. However the button making information is a good clue. Buttons were made from shells that have a pearly interior. Many were made from pearl oysters, but one large gastropod species was also widely used in that industry, the Great Green Turban, Turbo marmoratus. This species has a pearly interior and is large enough and thick enough to provide a good amount of material for buttons. So I'm guessing that this shell fragment may be the remains of a shell of that species.  <span class="petit">--Last edited by Paul Monfils on 2008-03-07 15:10:57 --</span>