I came across one of these shells in South Carolina earlier this year and couldn’t recall its name.
“Oh, that’s a roly poly,” a British beachcomber explained.
 |
| Looks more like a roly poly than an olive to me |
It was a good find considering most of the beach was covered with an extremely thick, clunky, and rather unattractive variety shell called a surf clam.
I was shocked by their sheer size.
 |
| This surf clam was almost the size of my hand |
The technically correct term isn’t roly poly, but rather olive instead, per its zoological place in the Olividae family. But why let scientific standards get in the way of a better descriptive term.
Roly poly has a better sound to it.
 |
| There goes another roly poly (aka olive) disappearing into the sand |
Sometimes you’ve got to listen to the tourists!
