Do you know Georgia’s official state seashell? It’s the shell of the knobbed whelk, a large sea snail common in coastal waters along the state’s seashore. Its beautiful, spiraled shell is a familiar ...

To modern-day beach-goers, they may not be the most flamboyant species lolling along the tide line. To the ancients, however, the lightning whelk seemed to hold a prolific prominence in everyday life ...

Nick Lacasse experienced a slight hiccup while ordering whelks from his fish purveyor for this challenge. “They sent me five cases of elk,” he said. He ended up getting the whelks and returned the elk ...

This week, the Texas coast has seen an influx of lightning whelks washing up with the tides. Recognized as the official state shell of Texas, the lightning whelk is a fascinating marine predator that ...

Delaware has a state bird, a state bug and a state fish. But until last year, there was no state sea shell. Then, 13-year-old Allyson Willis, a seventh-grader at Redding Middle School, came along and ...

The whelk was the other seafood of the Lowcountry coast, a late winter harvest when shrimping shut down. Tommy Edwards used to pull in three or four tractor-trailer loads per year. The tough meat of ...