11 Treasures of the Baltic Sea

The chicken god is a particularly popular souvenir from the Baltic Sea beach. Some say it's just a stone with a hole. Others believe the find is a special good luck charm that, thanks to its shape, can easily be worn as a necklace pendant.

The name traces back to an old Slavic belief that poultry at home could be protected from the evil influences of the house spirit Kikimora with the help of an amulet.

The razor shell is an immigrant: 40 years ago, floating larvae of this species reached the German Bight by ship from America and were able to multiply massively. All razor shells are three to eight times as long as they are wide, and this form distinguishes them well from other shell species that can be found in the Baltic Sea. Here, they can grow up to 17 centimeters long.

This type of shell is triangular to oval and can grow up to three centimeters long. Its color is particularly striking: it is red, pink, or yellow inside, with the exterior color range spanning from yellow, green, and red to brown with stripes. Due to its special coloration, it is also called the 'Red Bean.'

This is a particularly old find: the shell remains of sea urchins date back to the Cretaceous period - which was around 70 million years ago. Characteristic is the radial pattern that emanates from the center of the fossil. Impressions can also be found on the underside of fossilized sea urchins. Depending on the degree of weathering, the chalk-white shell of the original sea urchin skeleton may still be recognizable.

The heart shell is distinguished by its very sturdy, ribbed shell, which is white-brownish in color. The largest of them are about five centimeters long. It owes its name to its cross-section, which resembles a heart.

What initially sounds like an expensive gemstone is actually a form of calcite, also known as fibrous calcite. The pea- to fist-sized, yellowish-gray to green pieces found on the Baltic Sea owe their name to their velvety shiny surface. This shine appears when the fibrous calcite is ground or polished. Mineralogically, it has nothing to do with jade. Another name for this find is 'Holstein Amber.'

The white to light gray-brown shell of the Icelandic scallop can reach up to 13 centimeters in length. Small, young shells are more rounded, while older and larger ones are more elongated. The shell also breaks records: researchers have found a specimen that is more than 500 years old. Similar to tree rings, the age can be determined by the growth stripes on the shell.

Formed from the resin of coniferous trees, the popular golden-yellow to brown gemstone emerged 40 to 50 million years ago and is now occasionally washed up on Baltic Sea beaches. In comparison to real stones, this find is very light and shines in the sun. If you're not sure whether you're actually holding amber, a simple test helps: you can gently tap the find against a tooth. If there's a soft tone, it's likely amber. In saltwater, the piece also floats unlike other stones.

For this find, beachcombers need to look closely. The cylindrical, tapered structures are not easy to discover among the stones. Their name goes back to the Germanic god Donar, who, according to legend, sent lightning bolts to earth that then fossilized. In fact, 'thunderbolts' are actually 'belemnites,' fossilized remains of cephalopod skeletons that lived from 358 to 65 million years ago.

The largest shell to be found here is the soft-shell clam with its white, egg-shaped shell, reaching up to 15 centimeters in width. Since it otherwise sits about 30 centimeters deep in the ground and no longer needs to fear its enemies there, it opens its shells easily. It's due to this 'gaping' in the sand that the shell got its name.

Its color makes it particularly noticeable on the beach: it has a blue-black shell that tapers to a point at the front and is rounded at the back. It can reach up to ten centimeters in length. Its name doesn't refer to a mood but derives from Middle High German: 'Mies' means 'moss' and refers to the threads with which the mussel attaches itself to stones or posts.

Travel Reporter