They are all different colors from white to pink to blue to red to almost black. And you find many that are flat. Then you find other ones.
They are not as dark and where the other in flat this is certainly concave. They range in size from as small as a ball you would place jacks with to a tennis ball. Again all sorts of different colors. The insides are pretty interesting too.
I have wondered why some were flat and others not. I wondered if it was because if whatever was in it had died long ago and that the sea had "caused" it to go flat. What it been soft when it was housing a life? Finally I just looked it up. These are scallop shells. And although this is not a matched set, this is how they go together. The flat part is the top of the shell and the concave is the bottom. And they house scallops. They are called pecten novaezealandiae.
They say that you almost never find a matching set because once they come open they will quickly become separated and therefore, usually not found together on the beach. I am so glad that I finally solved this mystery and that I now know what they are for.
The scallop business is a huge commercial business. There is a period of time where just anyone can go scallop fishing. I cannot imagine it would be fun to clean them but then for those who want to each both parts of the scallop you would have it all together. The white part that is usually served in restaurants is at least reasonably priced but the other part of the scallop is expensive. If you catch it all it costs you is the time to clean it.
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