Seashells from snails, oysters, scallops, clams, and mussels are beautiful and eye-catching. They can be brightly colored and opalescent, and come in a variety of different and dramatic shapes. However we might not often think about a shell’s most important purpose as a remarkable biological armor. Seashells can withstand a lifetime of accumulating physical insults, and unlike man-made armor, can repair themselves. Join this class to learn more about shells: What are they? How are they made? How are they so good at protecting the animals they shelter?

About the instructor: Rachel Crane

Rachel Crane is a postdoctoral scholar in biology at the University of California at Davis. She has always been curious about the amazing, the strange, and especially the less traditionally charismatic animals that fill our world. Rachel grew up in North Carolina and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Swarthmore College, studying how worms burrow through mud. After graduating she returned to North Carolina, where she worked at Duke University studying mantis shrimp: a marine animal with a strike that can shatter snail shells. She then went on to earn her Ph.D. in biology from Stanford University, studying how seashells provide protection from predators and the environment.