Editing Seashell (section)

==== Musical instruments ====
{{main|Conch (musical instrument)}}
[[File:Hindu priest blowing conch during punja.jpg|thumb|Hindu priest sounding a ritual trumpet made from ''[[Turbinella pyrum]]'']]
[[File:Gyeonbokgung-March-01.jpg|thumb|Korean military procession with ''[[Charonia]]'' trumpets]]

Seashells have been used as musical instruments, [[wind instruments]] for many hundreds if not thousands of years. Most often the shells of large sea snails are used, as trumpets, by cutting a hole in the [[spire (mollusc)|spire]] of the shell or cutting off the tip of the spire altogether. Various different kinds of large marine gastropod shells can be turned into "blowing shells"; however, the most commonly encountered species used as "[[conch]]" trumpets are:
* The sacred chank, ''[[Turbinella pyrum]]'', known in India as the [[shankha]]. In [[Tibet]] it is known as "dung-dkar".<ref name=Clark>{{cite web |url=http://www.furious.com/perfect/shells.html |title=Some Basics on Shell Trumpets and some very Basics on how to make them |author=Clark, Mitchell |year=1996 |publisher=furious.com |access-date=24 July 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021010404/http://www.furious.com/perfect/shells.html |archive-date=21 October 2013}}</ref>
* The [[Triton (mollusk)|Triton shell]] also known as "Triton's trumpet" ''[[Charonia tritonis]]'' which is used as a trumpet in Melanesian and Polynesian culture and also in [[Korea]] and Japan. In Japan this kind of trumpet is known as the [[horagai]]. In Korea it is known as the [[nagak]]. In some Polynesian islands it is known as "''pu''".<ref name=Clark/>
* The [[Queen Conch]] ''[[Lobatus gigas]]'', has been used as a trumpet in the Caribbean.

Children in some cultures are often told the myth that you can hear the sound of the ocean by holding a seashell to ones ear. This is due to the effect of [[seashell resonance]].