I'm a big fan of using a standard workbench vise to crack the shell. You
can slowly apply pressure with the vise until the shell just starts to
crack, then back off to avoid crushing things too much. With kellet's
whelks we typically cracked them in a few places by repositioning in the
vise, and then picked the shell fragments apart to reveal the tissue.

At 07:49 PM 4/11/2006, you wrote:
>Dear all,
>
>I would like to ask how do you open hard thick shells
>without destroy the flesh for anatomical study?
>
>I did it only to freshwater and terrestrial snails in
>which the shells are thin and big enough, but not for
>small shells commonly found in beaches.
>
>Is there any tools to crack the shell? what is the
>name and where to buy?
>
>Thanks a lot
>Felicia-Indonesia
>
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Luke Miller

Denny Lab http://www.stanford.edu/group/denny
Hopkins Marine Station
lab: 831-655-6208
cell: 310-707-7134

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