Beachcombing Report: Jingle Shells

One of the greatest rewards of beachcombing is stumbling onto something unexpected. This week, I found handfuls of jingle shells scattered across the beach, so many that I couldn’t resist stopping to pick them up. Some shimmered with a pearly white glow, while others were dark gray to almost black, a sure sign they had likely been buried beneath the sand for quite some time before waves uncovered them again. Jingle shells are among the most colorful shells found along the Texas Gulf Coast. Fresh shells can be golden, amber, orange, silver, pink, or pearly white, and no two seem to be exactly alike. Their paper-thin shells are so translucent that if you hold one up to the sun, light shines right through it. Despite their resemblance to oysters, jingle shells belong to a different family of bivalves. One of the easiest ways to identify them is by a small hole near the hinge.

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