Shells | Sea Life Mural & Patterns

Description

Our Shells design has a “shell-life” beyond just beach collection. We take a scientific approach with this design as the visual taxonomy of shells. Our Shells are artistic renderings of real seashells that represent the largest group of the Mollusca Phylum  that we’ve collected. The shells are configured in a purposeful pattern to depict popular and common species of gastropods and bivalves, which are two of the seven classes of mollusks that produce the different types of shells in our design.

Our Shells are situated against a Sea Spray background with two different types of coral that represent two different branches of Gastropoda and Bivalvia classes of species. Each shell is representative of a separate branch or Order within the species’ family.

Going back to our days of basic biology, here’s a quick breakdown of how scientific classification works:  Kingdom ->Phylum ->Class ->Order ->Family ->Genus ->Species

Here’s a fun phrase to help remember this classification and coincidentally it can be related to our Shells, “Kings Play Chess On Fine Grain Sand,” as do our Shells. Picture Mollusks are the kings of this Phylum playing chess with their seashell treasures on the fine grain sand in the ocean. Mollusks are the second largest Genus of living organisms in the animal kingdom represented by more than 100,000 species.

• Kingdom = Animalia
• Phylum = Mollusca
• Classes = Our focus is on
  • GASTROPODA (single shelled  cowries, cones, etc.) &
  • BIVALVIA (two shelled like clams, mussels, etc.)
  • — The other Classes not in our design but for information only are:
  • APLACOPHORA (solenogasters)
  • MONOPLACOPHORA (segmented limpets)
  • POLYPLACOPHORA (or Amphineura as it was earlier called- Chitons)
  • SCAPHOPODA (tusk shells)
  • CEPHALOPODA (nautilus, squids, Cuttelfish, octopus etc)

These classes are further divided into sub-classes, order, family and then genus and species. Our Shells focus on the following three orders within these two main classes.

The major groups of marine snails (Gastropods) are the largest group of our Shells that are clustered on the right over the thin-branch red coral. The shells depicted here are the following but not necessarily in order as stated below. Families are grouped together for the most part but see if you can identify these individual shells:

• Orders (bolded below) > Family (common names used) > Genus and or Species

1. ARCHAEGASTROPODA:

1. Keyhole Limpets — Volcanic (Costa Rica)
2. Turban — Green Banded (Australia)
3. Top Shell — Pearlized Trochus (Florida)

2. MESOGASTROPODA:

1. Periwinkle — Yellow Marsh Snail (Ocracoke, NC)
2.  — Extra — (CAMAENIDAE family) Yellow Amphidromus Chloris (Phillipines)
3. — Extra — (ORTHALICIDAE family) Candy Cane Liguus Virgenius land snail (Dominican Republic)
4. Helmet — Scotch Bonnet (Ocracoke, NC)
5. Moon Snail — Common Northern (Ocracoke, NC)

3. NEOGASTROPODA:

1. Muricidae / Murex — Pink Mouthed Murex (Pacific Central America)
2. Melongena / Whelk — Lightening Whelk (Mid Atlantic)
3. Melongena / Corona —  American Crown Conch (SE US)
4. Fasciolariidae / Tulip — Non Banded + Oxidized (Ocracoke, NC)
5. Miter — Pontifical (Ocracoke, NC)
6. Olive — Lettered (Ocracoke, NC)
7. Muricidae / Cineria – Atlantic Bluish Oyster Drill (Ocracoke, NC)
8. Fasciolariidae / Spindle –Polystira Albida / White Giant (Ocracoke, NC)
9. Turrid / Turritella Duplicata (Indo Pacific)
10. Cone — Pacific Lettered (Indo Pacific)

The next set of Shells come from the Bivalve class. These are located on the left over the thick-branch orange coral. The shells depicted here are the following:

1. Family = Mactridae > Genus = Spisula > Species = Mactra hians — Hians Surf Clam (SE Asia)
2. Family = Cardidae > Genus = Dinocardium > Species = robusta — Giant Atlantic (Ocracoke, NC)
3. Family = Pectindae > Genus = Argopectin > Species = gibbus — Atlantic Calico Clam (Ocracoke, NC / Deleware to Brazil)

Our Shells design works just was wonderfully in a residential setting, especially a vacation or beach-front property, as it does in a restaurant or commercial setting.

 

If you like shells, our design gives a luxe look without harming the real animals that make them. The maximalist styling of our design is meant to give the sense of what shells might look like as if swimming to find them through lacy layers of coral and water in their natural environment.

 

You can mix and match this design with others in our Sea Life Series as well as customize the color, enlarge the size or use individual components. All our 52-inch wide panels are easy to install to cover a full or focus wall, so you can move them around.

Choose coordinating furniture and other accessories in our  Sea Life Treasures Collection to further enhance your interior décor.

Click here to view our Sea Spray Mural as its own wallcovering artwork. Our other abstract water murals consist of Waves.

If you’re a fan of aqua-marine designs, see our Shell Fish design that incorporates our Shells with fish for fun tropical decor.

Have a question? Click here and we’ll answer it.

Color choice: Natural Shells / Sea Spray Background, Natural Shells / Sea Spray + Coral Background (all other colorways have this background), Yellow-Purple, Orange-Blue, Green-Pink, Deep Blue, Sepia, Mauve, Sample Composite 1 (multicolored) and Sample Composite 2 (monochromatic colorways)

Available Sizes:

• Bookcase Backing: 52 in. w x 4 ft. h (18 sq. ft.)
• Small Roll: 52 in. w x 8 ft. h (35 sq. ft.)
• Medium Roll: 52 in. w x 10 ft. h (44 sq. ft.)
• Sample: 8.5 in w x 11 in h

Samples: A $2 shipping fee is included. The cost of your sample can be reimbursed with a larger order of $50 or more. Colors can print slightly differently between our two materials, so we encourage ordering a sample first to review.

Covering Type: