The Rest of The Whelk City-zens, originally uploaded by Erin aka Tink*~*~*.

More shells from Whelk City, all laid out on the kitchen counter to dry after their bath

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Favorite shelling find of the day, originally uploaded by Erin aka Tink*~*~*.

This was the first find I made on the slope I named "Whelk City" between Access 4 and Access 5 on Sanibel. Now, don’t everyone go running there – first of all, I got ’em all 😉 Second, it’s a different beach every day. Who knows where today’s best finds will be?

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Stinkers In A Bucket, originally uploaded by Erin aka Tink*~*~*.

Some of the shells I found during the full moon are "stinkers". They were found in what we called "the death pool", which stank to high heaven.

Stinkers are often beautiful, perfect specimens (well, so would you be, if you died very young and very recently), but they are high maintenance. Probably, what makes them stink is that there is a little piece of the dead occupant still caught up there in the inner chambers of the shell.

Mine will stay in a bucket of 50/50 solution of bleach and water until I feel like trying again to get ’em all empty and clean.

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