Dear Lilliputian ,
This is a common sight on the beaches of New England . It is a Clam's shell . A Clam has two
shells . . . one on top and one just like it on the bottom . Until recently I always thought this is just what a Clam shell looks like , but . . . it isn't . This is what a Clam shell looks like after alot of time and work . The baby Clam starts out its life with out a shell but as it grows it needs the shell for protection and it makes a very teeny tiny shell to cover its teeny tiny body and spends the rest of its long life working on its shell .
I have collected some Clam shells to show you how tiny they start out . You can also see how large they can get . This may surprise you . . . did you know they can live a very , very long time . About eight years ago scientists found a clam shell that they believe was living when
Christopher Columbus was discovering the Americas ,
and Leonardo Da Vinci was painting the Mona Lisa .
The way some scientists think that you can tell the age of the Clam is by counting its growth rings . If you click on one of the photos of the Clam shells above and look at the large shell you will see lines going across the shell . On the Clam shell found eight years ago . . . they counted 507 growth rings . The scientists believe that means that the Clam they found was 507 years old . This makes that Clam the oldest living animal that has ever been found .
To make growth rings to fit its growing body a clam oozes out a bit of fluid around the outside edge of the shell . . . which hardens and makes a new growth ring . You know how your bones grow each year to make you taller . . . well it is sort of like that .
So when you go to the beach this Summer look closely at the sand and see if you can find some of the little tiny shells . . . they were the homes of a tiny little ocean creature . Snails , Clams , and Mussels are some of the kind of shells you will find .
Happy shell hunting !
Lets see . . . would you like to the know the title of a book we read aloud to my children every time we stayed at the beach ? It is a funny book titled Burt Dow Deep Water Man by Robert McCloskey .
Another book that Robert wrote was One Morning in Maine it is another treasure of a book . When you read his books you can tell that he liked to spend a lot of time at New England's beaches .
Christopher Columbus was discovering the Americas ,
and Leonardo Da Vinci was painting the Mona Lisa .
The way some scientists think that you can tell the age of the Clam is by counting its growth rings . If you click on one of the photos of the Clam shells above and look at the large shell you will see lines going across the shell . On the Clam shell found eight years ago . . . they counted 507 growth rings . The scientists believe that means that the Clam they found was 507 years old . This makes that Clam the oldest living animal that has ever been found .
To make growth rings to fit its growing body a clam oozes out a bit of fluid around the outside edge of the shell . . . which hardens and makes a new growth ring . You know how your bones grow each year to make you taller . . . well it is sort of like that .
So when you go to the beach this Summer look closely at the sand and see if you can find some of the little tiny shells . . . they were the homes of a tiny little ocean creature . Snails , Clams , and Mussels are some of the kind of shells you will find .
Happy shell hunting !
Lets see . . . would you like to the know the title of a book we read aloud to my children every time we stayed at the beach ? It is a funny book titled Burt Dow Deep Water Man by Robert McCloskey .
Another book that Robert wrote was One Morning in Maine it is another treasure of a book . When you read his books you can tell that he liked to spend a lot of time at New England's beaches .
Until next time
Wildbee
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