Seashell hunters know the Outer Banks are prime turf after a storm, but a recent visitor to Cape Lookout National Seashore got a rare surprise when the shell’s occupant was still alive — and ticklish.

Adeline Bohi, of Glen Echo, Maryland, found a scotch bonnet on Jan. 15 off of West Gulf Drive on Sanibel. A student at Denison University, she was visiting Sanibel for the first time. To report a ...

You can see the live snail inside the shell. It’s white, says the National Park Service. The the yellow patch is a hard anatomical structure used like a trap door,. to protect the snail after it pulls ...