As seen at The Natural History Museum

A display of items found on the seashore will be set up in your hall or classroom.

Discover the shells of many different bivalves and gastropods including mussels, cockles, oysters, tellins, limpets, whelks, scallops, topshells, periwinkles and razorshells.

Find mermaids purses, whelk egg cases, seaweeds and other flotsam and jetsam.

See and hold live Shore Crabs

Identify and classify the animals and plants and discuss life cycles and feeding relationships.

Smell the seashore

Years 2 to 8 0nly.

One class per session, each session lasts 45 to 60 minutes.

Please Note: Only available from April until the end of October. For years 2 to 8 only.

Photos:
Top left - Flat Periwinkle. Right - Slipper Limpet.
Bottom Left - Common Mussel. Right - Common Limpet.

Photos by Dan Ambrose

Here are some seashore facts...

> There are over 1,500 known species of Starfish worldwide.

> There are over 20,000 known species of Bivalves worldwide. Most are marine, some are freshwater.

> Bivalves have a hinged shell made of two parts.

> Gatropods have one shell and include snails and whelks.
They are also known as univalves.

> There are over 100,000 known species of mollusc, these include slugs, snails, octopuses, squids and shellfish. They are the second largest of all the animal groups. The largest group are the Arthropods.

> There are 5,700 known species of crab, most are marine but some are freshwater and some live on land only visiting the sea to lay eggs.

> There are about 2,000 known species of shrimps and prawns.

> There are 400 known species of lobster and crayfish.

>Crabs, prawns, shrimps, lobsters, crayfish, barnacles, water fleas, sea slaters, sand hoppers and woodlice are crustaceans.

> Over two thirds of the Earth is covered in sea water!

> The oceans contain 97% of all water on Earth.

> There is enough salt in the sea to cover the land with a layer 153 metres thick.

> Tides make the sea level rise and fall, they are caused by the moon and the sun pulling the water. When the moon and the sun are in line they cause very high tides and very low tides. These are called Spring Tides. When they pull at right angles they cause lower high tides and higher low tides. These are called neap tides.

> There are five oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic.