page_title: Registry of World Record Size Shells
section_title: Registry of World Record Size Shells
hierarchical_section_title: Registry of World Record Size Shells / History / Registry of World Record Size Shells
caption_attribution_description: English: Museum exhibits about worldwide shells, and one showing some World Record Size shells.
context_page_description: The Registry of World Record Size Shells is a conchological work listing the largest verified shell specimens of various marine molluscan taxa. A successor to the earlier World Size Records of Robert J. L. Wagner and R. Tucker Abbott, it has been published on a semi-regular basis since 1997, changing ownership and publisher a number of times. Originally planned for release every two years, new editions are now published annually. Since 2008 the entire registry has been available online in the form of a searchable database. The registry is continuously expanded and now contains more than 24,000 listings and 85,000 supporting images.
  Certain families of attractive shells are particularly favoured by collectors. World record size shells of species in the most popular families are much sought after by some shell collectors, and can thus command high prices. Collections of such shells are exhibited at a number of specialist museums, including the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum. Maximum and minimum sizes are also of interest to malacologists, and may be useful in delimiting closely related species.
context_section_description: Following the deaths of Wagner and Abbott, Barbara Haviland continued to compile data for world records. In 1997 Kim Hutsell acquired the rights from Cynthia Abbott to World Size Records to continue the project as a stand-alone book; those rights were subsequently sold to Don Pisor. The first edition therefore incorporated many of the earlier entries, as well as additional data compiled for World Size Records by Barbara Haviland. The format of the new publication differed from World Size Records in several important ways. Significantly, the minimum size threshold was lowered from 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) to 1 centimetre (0.39 in). In another change, the registry listed taxa alphabetically by species name within families, instead of within genera as they had been previously. This system allows for easy comparison between closely related genera, is more resilient to the frequent taxonomic changes that occur at the genus level, and gets around the issue that many shell dealers prefer to lump numerous genera for the sake of simplicity. R. Tucker Abbott had himself intended to use this arrangement in the fifth edition of his World Size Records, but died before he could see his plans through. Another difference was the presentation of sizes in millimetres to the nearest tenth instead of centimetres to the nearest hundredth, moving the publication in line with standard usage in conchology. Finally, references were added for each specimen to aid in identification. The opening paragraph of the first edition set out the project's goals and invited submissions:
  While the importance of maximum shell size and its role in the overall scheme of Conchology and Malacology is debatable, it remains one point of continual interest among collectors and researchers. The purpose of the Registry of World Record Size Shells is to provide a single publication containing a list of the largest known specimens for as many shelled molluscan species as possible in a format designed for ease of use. Undoubtedly, specimens may exist, hidden in museums, universities and private collections, which exceed some of the sizes listed herein. It is the sincere hope of the editors that information concerning such specimens be shared with others by submitting accurate and verifiable records to the Registry of World Record Size Shells.
  The largest shell specimens are often housed in museums, but such institutions can rarely commit significant resources towards mensuration, and most records pertaining to museum specimens were collated by volunteers.
  Kim Hutsell, Linda Hutsell and Don Pisor released the first three editions in 1997, 1999, and 2001. These were published by the Hutsell's company, Snail's Pace Productions, and distributed by Pisor's Marine Shells, both based in San Diego, California. The first edition went on sale at the 1997 Conchologists of America (COA) convention in Captiva Island, Florida. Originally called Hutsell & Pisor's Registry of World Record Size Shells, for the third edition the title was modified slightly to Hutsell, Hutsell and Pisor's Registry of World Record Size Shells (as given on the respective title pages).
  The text of the fourth edition was completed by Kim and Linda Hutsell and originally planned for release at the 2003 COA convention in Tacoma, Washington, but was greatly delayed and only came out in 2005. The fifth edition appeared three years later. With the departure of the first two authors, the titles of the fourth and fifth editions were shortened to Pisor's Registry of World Record Size Shells (as given on the title pages). These also marked a switch from Snail's Pace Productions to a new main publisher, ConchBooks of Hackenheim, Germany. They were compiled with the help of Conchology, Inc., with the company's founder, Guido T. Poppe, providing an introduction for the fifth edition.
  On 2 April 2008, the copyrights to the registry were transferred from Pisor to Jean-Pierre Barbier of Topseashells and Philippe Quiquandon of Shell's Passion. With Olivier Santini, Barbier and Quiquandon subsequently launched an official web
caption: Exhibit of official world record size shells (right) at the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum, Sanibel, Florida
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