page_title: Seashell
section_title: Art
hierarchical_section_title: Seashell / Molluscan seashells / Cultural significance / Art
caption_attribution_description: English: Aphrodite Anadyomene (rising from the sea) in her sea shell. Terracotta, made in Amisos (Pontus), late 1st century BC/early 1st century AD, found in Kertch (ancient Panticapaeum). Français&#160;: Aphrodite Anadyomène (émergeant de la mer) dans sa coquille. Terre cuite, produite à Amisos (Pont-Euxin), fin du Ier siècle av. J.-C./début du Ier siècle av. J.-C., découverte à Kertch (ancienne Panticapée).
context_page_description: A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washed up on beaches by beachcombers. The shells are empty because the animal has died and the soft parts have been eaten by another animal or have decomposed.
  A seashell is usually the exoskeleton of an invertebrate, and is typically composed of calcium carbonate or chitin. Most shells that are found on beaches are the shells of marine mollusks, partly because these shells are usually made of calcium carbonate, and endure better than shells made of chitin.
  Apart from mollusk shells, other shells that can be found on beaches are those of barnacles, horseshoe crabs and brachiopods. Marine annelid worms in the family Serpulidae create shells which are tubes made of calcium carbonate cemented onto other surfaces. The shells of sea urchins are called "tests", and the moulted shells of crabs and lobsters are exuviae. While most seashells are external, some cephalopods have internal shells.
context_section_description: A very large outdoor sculpture at Akkulam of a gastropod seashell is a reference to the sacred chank shell Turbinella pyrum of India. In 2003, Maggi Hambling designed a striking 13 ft (4 m) high sculpture of a scallop shell which stands on the beach at Aldeburgh, in England. The goddess of love, Venus or Aphrodite, is often traditionally depicted rising from the sea on a seashell.  In The Birth of Venus, Botticelli depicted the goddess Venus rising from the ocean on a scallop shell.
caption: Aphrodite, 1st century BC, 13 cm, 5 in
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