Take a free guided beach walk on Hunting Island.
By Margit Resch
Would you believe, the coastal waters of South Carolina are supposed to be teeming with some 700 different species of mollusks, like knobbed whelks, oysters, clams, mussels, moon snails, cockles, jingle shells and lettered olives. When we walk on one of the gorgeous beaches along the Atlantic Ocean’s edge in places like Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, or Hunting Island, we always find some of the shells that live in shallow waters or in the intertidal zone. If we beach combers are really lucky, we may even find a few sand dollars, a seastar, an urchin or a horseshoe crab. Generally, these animals are no longer alive when they are washed up on the beach. Of course, if they are alive, we would put them back in the water, wouldn’t we? Most of the time, they are just the empty houses that these invertebrates leave behind when they die; houses of many different sizes, intriguing architectural designs and charming colors; houses that are really beautiful. And you do pick up these beach treasures, don’t you? You probably collect them for decorating your home or making necklaces.
But what do you know about these unusual animals? Maybe we shouldn’t call them unusual, given that there are more than 100,000 different species of mollusks in the world. We don’t know exactly how many, because some live way out of our reach on the bottom of the ocean. And who would dive 12,000 to 35,000 feet to look for shells?
Would it surprise you to learn that these creatures have the
same needs we humans have? Yes, they do. They, too, have to eat, they have to breathe, they have to keep safe, they have to grow, they have to multiply. They also have preferences. Some like warm waters, some prefer cooler temperatures. Some are sedentary, some move around. Some are colonial animals who hang out together, some are isolationists. Just like we humans. So, do you know how they feed themselves, where they find oxygen, how they protect themselves from predators and other dangers, how they get bigger (some of them bigger than a car tire), what their lifespan is, how they produce offspring, how they build colonies? Do you know why some of them have those perfectly round, beveled holes that render them perfect for making necklaces? And can you tell whether they are dead or alive?
Well, if you want answers to those questions, go to Hunting Island on a Wednesday or Friday morning, meet me by the Light House at 10:30 am, and take a free Guided Beach Walk with me. I am a certified Lowcountry Master Naturalist with a passion for beach life. For a dozen years, I have offered beach walks and talks on Hunting Island and elsewhere and have given presentations in schools, colleges and various organizations about the intriguing marine invertebrates that you find on our beaches. I also have the remnants of most of these critters, of mollusks, echinoderms, worms, corals, horseshoe crabs, etc., in a bag to show you, and in the process, you will learn about their unusual lives. Then we will go to the beach, look for all these specimens and explore their fascinating world.
Oh, I forgot to mention: Hunting Island is a hotbed for fossils of all kinds, from shark teeth, pieces of turtle shells, fish heads and all sorts of bones to stingray barbs, wood and mud; yes, fossilized pluff mud. You don’t believe me? I can show you! To quote one of my customers after we finished our session: “I will never walk the beaches again around here, or anywhere, the way I used to after this Guided Beach Walk with you.”
