What kind of animal do you think makes this shell?

What's going on with the pattern?

Where does it live?

This shell was made by a predatory sea snail called the tent olive, also known as Oliva porphyria! It got this name from the distinctive design on its shell, which looks like a bunch of tiny overlapping tents. If it lives long enough, the tent olive's shell can reach a length of over five inches!

The tent olive lives in coastal beds along the Eastern shores of both American continents, as far north as the Gulf of California (in Westerm Mexico) and as far south as Peru.

For more information, visit:

• This artifact in the Karshner Digital Collections
• Artifact Worksheets you can use in your classroom or for homeschool
• Tent Olive Shell
• Olive Shells of the Olivadae Family
• Lettered Olives: The Burrito Shell