Ranking of the top 10 most beautiful shells in the world, how many have you seen?

Shellfish refers to a class of animals in the phylum Mollusca, including oysters, mussels, clams, squid, snails, etc. But do you know which are the most beautiful shellfish in the world? Let me introduce the ten most beautiful shellfish in the world: snail, nautilus, snail, tango snail, Venus snail, rose snail, flower fairy snail, cone snail, white jade snail, red peony snail snail, Tridacna squamata, Tridacna harp, and Tridacna kushii. Among them, the phoenix-tailed snail is the first among the four most famous snails in the world, with extremely beautiful shells. Other shellfish also have their own unique features, let’s appreciate their beauty together!

1. Snail

The conch (also known as the French conch) is a kind of precious conch. It is tall and pointed in the shape of a tower. The height is less than half of the total shell height. The top of the conch is often damaged. It lives in coral reefs, and its pattern is like a gorgeous phoenix tail. The color of the snail is like the tail of a peacock, evenly distributed and colorful. They are large and have richly decorated shells that can be used as horns. The Phoenix-tailed snail, together with the Tang crown snail, the Wanbao snail and the Nautilus, are known as the four most famous snails in the world. Due to its unique appearance, beautiful patterns and rare quantity, the snail is considered to be the most precious of the four famous snails.

2. Nautilus

The nautilus is a marine mollusk with a thin, light, spiral shell. The surface of the shell is often white or milky white, and the growth lines radiate from the umbilicus of the shell. It is delicate and smooth, usually reddish brown. The entire spiral shell is as smooth as a disc, shaped like a parrot's beak, hence the name "Nautilus" . This snail is mainly distributed in the tropical waters of the Southwest Pacific and can also be found in the Malay Archipelago, Taiwan Strait and South China Sea Islands. Nautiluses are usually benthic animals, often crawling slowly on the bottom of the deep sea at a depth of 100 meters.

3. Wanbao snail

Wanbao snail is one of the four famous snails in the world. Its front end is slightly raised, like a pouting mouth. The entire shell shows a white and brown red interwoven pattern. It is bright in color and has outstanding gloss. The lip of the snail is thick and round. , is light brown in color, and the color gradually deepens as it transitions to the inside of the shell. Some conch enthusiasts like to place Wanbao conch in the fish tank because of its brilliant color. The Wanbao conch in the water is like a huge ruby, which often eclipses other decorations in the fish tank.

4. Tang Guanluo

Tangguanluo is a larger conch with an extremely charming appearance. Its shape resembles the hat worn by Tang Monk in "Journey to the West", making the entire shell look like a miniature of Tang Monk's hat. Its shell surface is gray-white with irregular reddish-brown markings, and there are even large reddish-brown patches near the edge of the shell mouth. The mouth surface of the shell is flesh-colored with a bright luster. Tang snails have extremely high ornamental value, so they often become one of the shellfish that attract much attention at exhibitions.

5. Venus murex

The Venus murex, also known as the Ctenopharyngeus murex, has a beautiful, charming and delicate appearance. It has a slender and beautiful shell, which can be up to 12 centimeters in length, and the overall color is snow-white. Through long-term evolution in the ocean, its unique appearance has been formed. The water pipes have become extremely slender, and the shells are covered with spur-like protrusions, arranged like comb teeth. This natural carving art is favored by collectors. . According to Greek mythology, Venus, the goddess of love, often used murex to comb her hair, hence the name Venus murex.

6. Rose Thousand-Hand Snail

The shell of the rose snail is durable, the snail tower is tall, and its rough carvings are popular. The shell is oval in shape as a whole, full and full of charm. The front water pipe groove is long and wide, and the sutures are deep. The snail shell is densely covered with many protruding thorns, just like the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara, which is a typical feature of the genus Thousand-Hand Snails in the family Muridae. At the end of the thorns of the Rose Thousand-Hand Snail, there are also pink or lavender fern-like branches embedded, which look like blooming roses. It is because of this feature that it is given the beautiful name of "Rose Thousand-Hand Snail".

7. Flower fairy snail

The flower fairy snail is also a very charming shellfish. Usually, the body length of this kind of shellfish is between 2 and 6 centimeters. The conch tower is tall and pointed, and the body of the conch is covered with protrusions that look like tree branches. Its shells are often nearly white, rarely with pink markings. There are many types of fairy snails, including Pi's fairy snail, garlic fairy snail, Taiwanese fairy snail, Japanese fairy snail, Mawa fairy snail, etc. Among them, the most ornamental and representative ones are of the genus Taiwanese flower fairy snail.

8. Cone cone

Cone snails, also known as "cone snails", are mainly distributed in tropical seas and usually live in warm seas. They belong to the phylum Mollusca, class Gastropoda, and family Cones. They are charming snails that live on coastal coral reefs and beaches. . The front part of the cone snail shell is pointed and thin, while the rear end is thicker, and the shape resembles a chicken heart or a taro. There are many kinds of them, with different colors and patterns, and they are highly poisonous marine creatures. This is because there is a tiny opening hidden at the tip, which contains fangs that are enough to inject deadly venom, potentially threatening the life of the injured person.

9. White jade snail

The white jade snail is an extremely fascinating shellfish with a nearly spherical shell with approximately 6 layers of spirals. The spiral part is more prominent, accounting for about one-third of the entire shell height. The body whorl layer appears relatively full, with a smooth surface without ribs and fine growth lines. The color of the shell is yellowish-white, covered with purple-brown spots. The shell mouth is oval and the inside is bluish white. The outer lip is slightly curved, and a tubercle forms in the middle of the inner lip. The umbilicus is not very wide, and the lower part is covered by nodules. Has a hard horny texture. The height of the shell is about 4.5 cm, the shape is approximately oval, and it is white in color. Most of the umbilicus is completely covered by the slippery layer, while the flap is brown and translucent.

10. Red Peony Snail

The red peony snail is usually about 60 to 80 mm long. Its shell is strong, generally oval in shape, and its surface is coated with enamel, which is extremely smooth and shiny. Its shell is covered with brocade-like patterns, the body whorl layer has grown significantly, the shell mouth is narrow and long, and a slit-like structure is formed on the central line of the back of the shell, and its length is almost equal to the length of the entire shell. Due to its beautiful appearance, red peony snails are loved by shellfish collectors and have high ornamental and collection value.

The top ten best shells in the world are mainly compiled based on relevant websites, and by summarizing the appearance characteristics, color and luster of relevant shellfish, and ranking and recommending them through comprehensive rankings of their popularity, rarity, etc., the list is The ranking is for reference only. If you have any questions, please leave comments at the end for criticism and correction.

animal tags： nautilus shell