Pearl Turbo Shell

Out on the reef, a pearl turbo spends its days cropping algae off the rock. That steady grazing keeps the surface bare enough for coral larvae to settle, and without grazers like it, seaweed can take over and smother a reef. The shell keeps a record as it grows, with growth rings that can show the snail's age and the water it lived through.

"I seemed to hear the sea roar, as if I lived in a shell, for a week afterward."

, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod (1865)

People have treasured it just as long. The genus name Turbo is Latin for spinning top, after the near-perfect cone that caught the eye of early naturalists.

The green turban, Turbo marmoratus, was named by Linnaeus in 1758. It ranges across the Indo-Pacific from East Africa to eastern Melanesia, north to southern Japan and south to northern Queensland and Fiji, at depths of about 1 to 30 m. Shells commonly reach 18 cm, with a recorded maximum of 22 cm. The species was introduced from Vanuatu to Tahiti in 1967 for its meat and shell. Shells sold as pearl turbo are typically this species, polished to remove the green outer layer and expose the nacre.

• One-piece fishhooks in early West Polynesian sites were often made from Turbo, including T. marmoratus and T. setosus.
• T. marmoratus fishhooks and manufacturing debris have been found at the early Lapita site of Kamgot on Babase Island, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, and on Tikopia in the Solomon Islands.
• At Moturakau rockshelter on Aitutaki, Cook Islands, hooks of turban shell (T. setosus) increased around AD 1450 to 1550 as pearl shell hooks declined. Shell hooks disappear from the record by about AD 1650.
• Turbo shell is harder to work and breaks more readily than pearl shell, and Turbo hooks occur in a narrower range of shapes.
• The nacreous shell has been used for buttons and as inlay in lacquerware, furniture and jewelry. The large opercula have been sold as paperweights and door stops.
• Papua New Guinea exported an average of 59.7 tonnes of green snail a year from 1950 to 1984.

About This Piece

• A large turbo shell, chosen for its size and color
• Soft green exterior with a glowing mother-of-pearl interior
• Heavy in the hand; it looks different from every angle
• Natural shell, so each one is unique
• Shipping weight: 2.6 lb

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