What is the general consensus on (empty) seashells and veganism? Say, you find some seashells on the beach. They come from an animal, but there is no longer a live animal in them. Does that make them vegan or non vegan?

Discarded mollusks seashells (flat ones usually) are fine with me if you want to make jewelry or just keep to admire it's beauty. Some seashells though should be left alone, like the ones hermit crabs use. It's their home and as they grow they pick bigger ones. Are they vegan?Technically yes! They come from an animal after all but it's hard to harm the planet or the animals by picking seashells that are not used. Though some mass pick them to include them in chicken feed....

As an archeologist I found layers of seashells in the digs I participated in. They were not decomposed or anything, just making a pretty layer (saw layers of compressed sea sponges too). If a few were picked nothing would have changed, so for me some seashells are fine to pick, others should be left alone. Just need to learn which ones.

Technically, they're not vegan. But sensibly, collecting them is no more unethical then picking up dog poop off the sidewalk.

I just saw a pair of earrings with tiny seashells on them and wasn't sure if one could consider them vegan or not. I know pearls aren't vegan because you have to kill the mollusk, but it got me wondering about seashells since you don't have to kill or harm or even disturb an animal to get them.

I would leave the shells where you find them. Allow their minerals to be recycled back into the ocean.

I think it's fine to collect them... No animals were harmed, and that's that point, right?

I have to agree with David3 about this because it's not really whether taking a few does harm, it's the mindset that's it's okay that does harm.
You could have rescue a pregnant cow and take a cup of milk a day for yourself without causing distress to the cow or calf, but it's the desire for cow milk that causes harm.

I think the best answer to 'will it cause harm' is to consider if everyone did it would it cause harm and take it from there.

If everyone picked up seashells on the beach, would it actually cause harm to animals in some way? Do people ever breed, raise, or kill animals for their shells? I'm aware that there's a market for them (jewellery, trinkets, etc) but I had always assumed that people just collected discarded shells from the beach.

I didn't realize it before, but you're right. I drink water particles that were once gargled by a T-Rex. I have no right to that water, that's the T-Rex's water. I'll just stop drinking water.

Actually, I also breath air that was once flatulated by a T-Rex too. I'll st;eib;i;b;iu;bi;bie

According to Smithsonian Magazine, and the University of Washington's Conservation Magazine, collecting seashells can be a problem when too many people are doing it:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scienc...949368/?no-ist

http://conservationmagazine.org/2014...ing-seashells/


On some beaches, it is illegal to collect shells:

http://funorangecountyparks.com/2013...servation.html

http://www.philippinebeaches.org/for...ollecting-law/

http://www.gotostcroix.com/st-croix-...-in-its-place/

Huh. You learn something new every day.

It is very definitely potentially maybe a problem.

That's terrible! Don't those crabs, birds, and algae know that they're destroying the ecosystems of other crabs, birds, and algae!?

See if I don't pick up a seashell off the beach, then it's the moral imperative of the next creature to not pick up a seashell. Until someone TRULY needy comes along, right?

I mean, birds only make their nests out of shells, right?

And algae never settles anywhere else, right?

And hermit crabs are known to live THESE, right?


Meanwhile, it's perfectly legal to arrest shells and charge them with a crime.