Bangkok Shell Museum

Earth Science A and B classes had a field trip on Friday October 9, 2009 to the Bangkok Sea Shell Museum. We had been studying minerals/rocks, their properties, and how they form, and some students thought shells came from the same sources. So the field trip really helped students understand the difference between something that is made organically and something that is inorganic in nature. We hope to learn more about this as we begin to study other topics. There were so many varieties of shells, some coming from carnivorous animals, and others from herbivores. In any case, the students enjoyed themselves and afterwards they had a quick stop at McDonald's before returning to school for their afternoon classes.

HOW ARE SEA SHELLS CREATED?
Francis Horne, a biologist who studies shell formation at Texas State University, offers this answer.

The exoskeletons of snails and clams, or their shells in common parlance, differ from the endoskeletons of turtles in several ways. Seashells are the exoskeletons of mollusks such as snails, clams, oysters and many others. Such shells have three distinct layers and are composed mostly of calcium carbonate with only a small quantity of protein--no more than 2 percent. These shells, unlike typical animal structures, are not made up of cells. Mantle tissue that is located under and in contact with the shell secretes proteins and mineral extracellularly to form the shell. Think of laying down steel (protein) and pouring concrete (mineral) over it. Thus, seashells grow from the bottom up, or by adding material at the margins. Since their exoskeleton is not shed, molluscan shells must enlarge to accommodate body growth. This pattern of growth results in three distinct shell layers: an outer proteinaceous periosteum (uncalcified), a prismatic layer (calcified) and an inner pearly layer of nacre (calcified).

Hmm....So minerals are involved in the formation of the shells. We will have to futher investigate.