🦪🐌 Mollusks on Baltrum

🌊 On the beach of Baltrum, you can find many shells of mussels and snails from various species. These accumulations of washed-up shells — a phenomenon known in German as Schill — are a common sight along the shoreline. When swimming in the North Sea, you often have to cross a layer of these sharp shells before the water is deep enough to swim (I did it despite the low temperatures in May).

🦪 Here we see Atlantic jackknife clam (Ensis leei), common cockles (Cerastoderma edule), prickly cockles (Acanthocardia echinata), and many other species.

🦪 In the second picture, I’m holding a European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) in my hand. Mussels play an important role in cleaning the oceans, as they filter pollutants from the water. They also form mussel beds, which serve as habitats and function similarly to coral reefs.

🐚 In the third picture, there is an old common whelk shell (Buccinum undatum). These are relatively rare to find because their populations have declined and because hermit crabs prefer exactly this type of shell, often taking them before they can be washed ashore.

🐌 At the groynes – that's the name for the wave breakers made of wooden posts and stones – you can find the common periwinkle (Littorina littorea). In the photo it's on a wooden post, in the video on a stone groyne.

🐌 There are also land snails on Baltrum. I saw the garden banded snail (Cepaea hortensis, on the rose) and the grove snail (Cepaea nemoralis, on the paved path). You can tell them apart by the lip of the shell: Cepaea hortensis has a light edge at the shell opening, while Cepaea nemoralis has a dark one.

🤪 In the last picture, I show you a land slug (Arion species) cheekily smiling into the camera.

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