Beautiful assortment of sunnies
What are sunrise shells? Where do they come from? Why are there so many different colors?
If you are looking for answers to some of these questions then you’ve washed up to the right place. This is a site dedicated completely to sunrise shells. The people working for SunriseShells have one thing in common. We all love these little scallops.
Sunrise Shells have become quite popular outside the state of Hawaii in the past 5-10 years, and that’s just great for the most part. Everyone should be able to enjoy the beauty of these ocean gems. We love to see others wearing their shells and showing them off. And, it’s a great conversation starter. ”Wow!” or “Did you find that one?” People are so captivated by their diverse colors and how rare they are that it has become quite a business making and selling sunrise shell jewelry, or even the shells themselves.
It has become so popular, that now advanced scuba divers with enough experience have been diving to depths over 100ft just to find these rare little scallops. Most divers are finding dead shells. They are usually coated in calcium deposits which accumulates after the animal is gone.
When the animals that live within the scallops still inhibit the shell, the animal keeps its shell clean. So usually, it won’t have all the calcium deposits and other things which are difficult to clean off of the shell on it. That means, when the animal dies off and the shell remains and is found quickly, it becomes what shell collectors refer to as a “Perfect Specimen”.
That is why the people here at SunriseShells are asking people to get involved. To stop the depletion of this rare Hawaiian scallop. The Sunrise Shell.
Posted by Joseph on November 16, 2009 at 9:22 am
Am in kauai north shore right now. tons of people, and tourists, but simple reply here after reading this article. that sucks that people are taking the live ones. now we are performing genecide on the living specimins. which you know people do, mixed with greed. anyway, logically wondering….. if more people get involved, wouldn’t this increase depletion?? I miss when things used to be rare caz they come from rare peoples too. human = harvesting the earth. goodstewart or badstewart.
Phillipino Broseph
Posted by sunriseshells on November 16, 2009 at 9:46 am
You have a point that more people getting involved could spike an interest among the population which didn’t know about them in the first place, making the shells more scouted for to supply the demand. On the other hand, if there is action taken to protect these creatures by making it illegal to take live specimens and the people get involved by knowing where their shells are coming from, then you have something which is supporting humanity without the common negative impacts from business on the natural world. It would be a positive co-existence. Isn’t that how life is supposed to be?