{"id":1448,"date":"2012-12-01T14:27:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-01T19:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=1448"},"modified":"2024-08-28T15:23:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T19:23:28","slug":"naturalists-notebook-shells-ships-and-fish-north-carolina-coastal-emblems-in-your-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/naturalists-notebook-shells-ships-and-fish-north-carolina-coastal-emblems-in-your-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK: Shells, Ships and Fish: North Carolina Coastal Emblems in Your Hand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Wet-nosed, floppy-eared Plott hounds. Stock car racing. Milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each is among the dozens of official state symbols designated by North Carolina\u2019s General Assembly. The list also includes several emblems of our coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
North Carolina designated the first state shell when it honored the Scotch bonnet \u2014 pronounced \u201cbonay\u201d \u2014 in 1965.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Six years later, the long-lived, prize-winning red drum was named North Carolina\u2019s state saltwater fish. And in 1987, after more than a half century\u2019s disappearance from the mainstream market, legislators adorned the shad boat with a title: official state historical boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Distinctive features and characteristics make these coastal subjects significant to our state\u2019s culture and history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Found along the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Uruguay, the Scotch bonnet \u2014 Phalium granulatum \u2014 is a gastropod in the same mollusk class as snails, slugs and limpets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First catalogued in 1778, the Scotch bonnet derives its popular name from its similarity in shape to a Scottish peasant cap and its similarity in color to a Scottish tartan, or plaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least in part, legislators chose the Scotch bonnet to honor our state\u2019s Scottish settlers and thriving shellfish industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Species prevalence, however, was not a factor in the General Assembly\u2019s designation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey are rare finds, and most beachcombers get very excited to just find one,\u201d notes Terri Kirby Hathaway, North Carolina Sea Grant marine education specialist in Manteo. She writes an online marine education newsletter named for the state shell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe shell is very beautiful just after the snail dies,\u201d Hathaway notes. Fresh shells are special prizes for beachcombers who are more likely to find old Scotch bonnets, blackened or in fragments, if any at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n