What is the process that creates sea shells?

The animals that live in/use shells take in calcium and carbon from the ocean and then secrete calcium carbonate shells. They grow each year the animal lives which is why you can see growth lines on most shells.

What is the process that creates sea shells?
A shell is the hard, rigid outer covering, or integument, present in some animals. More specific scientific names include exoskeleton, carapace, and peltidium. A shell may be made of nacre (a combination of calcium and protein), chitin, bone and cartilage, or silica.



The shell will grow over time as the animal inside adds its building material to the leading edge near the opening. This causes the shell to become longer and wider to better accommodate the growing animal inside. A mollusc shell is formed, repaired and maintained by a part of the mollusc called the mantle. Injuries to or abnormal conditions of the mantle are often reflected in the shell they form and tend. When the animal encounters harsh conditions which limit its food supply or otherwise cause it to become dormant for a while, the mantle often ceases to produce the shell substance. When conditions improve again and the mantle resumes its task, a "growth line" which extends the entire length of the shell is produced, and the pattern and even the colors on the shell after these dormant periods are sometimes quite different from previous colors and patterns. Interestingly, each species of mollusc animals will build the external shell in specific shape, pattern, ornamentation, and color.



Shells are composite materials of calcium carbonate, found either as calcite or aragonite and organic macromolecules, mainly proteins and polysaccharides. Shells can have enumerous ultrastructural motiffs, the most common being crossed-lamellar (aragonite), prismatic (aragonite or calcite), homogeneous (aragonite), foliated (aragonite) and nacre (aragonite). Although not the most common, the nacre is the most studied layer. Shells of the class Polyplacophora are made of aragonite



Nacre is secreted by the epithelial cells (formed by the germ layer ectoderm) of the mantle tissue of certain species of mollusk. Mollusk blood is rich in dissolved calcium. In these mollusks the calcium is concentrated out from the blood where it can crystallize as calcium carbonate. Nacre is continually deposited onto the inner surface of the animal's shell (the iridescent nacreous layer also known as mother of pearl), both as a means to smooth the shell itself and as a defense against parasitic organisms and damaging detritus.