List of U.S. state shells

This is a list of official state shells for those states of the United States that have chosen to select one as part of their state insignia.^[1] In 1965, North Carolina was the first state to designate an official state shell, the Scotch bonnet. Since then, 14 other states have designated an official state shell.

These are seashells, the shells of various marine mollusks including both gastropod and bivalves. Each one was chosen to represent a maritime state, based on the fact that the species occurs in that state and was considered suitable to represent the state, either because of the species' commercial importance as a local seafood item, or because of its beauty, rarity, exceptional size, or other features.

Table edit

State	Shell	Year designated
Alabama	Johnstone's junonia Scaphella junonia ssp. johnstoneae	1990^[2]
Connecticut	Eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica	1989
Delaware	Channeled whelk Busycotypus canaliculatus	2014^[3]
Florida	Horse conch Triplofusus papillosus	1969^[4]
Georgia	Knobbed whelk Busycon carica	1987^[5]
Massachusetts	New England Neptune Neptunea lyrata ssp. decemcostata	1987^[6]
Mississippi	Eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica	1974^[7]
New Jersey	Knobbed whelk Busycon carica ssp. gmelin	1995^[8]
New York	Bay scallop Argopecten irradians	1988^[9]
North Carolina	Scotch bonnet Semicassis granulata	1965^[10]
Oregon	Oregon hairy triton Fusitriton oregonensis	1989^[11]
Rhode Island	Quahaug Mercenaria mercenaria	1987^[12]
South Carolina	Lettered olive Oliva sayana	1984^[13]
Texas	Lightning whelk Sinistrofulgur perversum ssp. pulleyi	1987^[14]
Virginia	Eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica	1974^[15]