concho-, conch-, conchi- +

A reference to animals that can break shells so they can eat the shellfish that are in them.

A nitrogenous substance that is the organic basis of many molluscan shells.

A form of osteomyelitis occurring in pearl workers.

1. A stone resembling a shell, a fossil shell.
2. A form of calcium carbonate, identical with aragonite, found in the shells of molluscs.

Containing shells.

An inflammation of a concha or external ear.

1. Like a shell or shell-like.
2. A simple curve.

1. Used to describe fracture surfaces in rocks and minerals that are concave or convex and shaped like shells.
2. Having or being a surface shaped like a bivalve shell with smooth ridges and depressions; such as, conchoidal fracture.
3. Relating to, or being a surface characterized by smooth, shell-like convexities and concavities, as on fractured obsidian; shaped like a shell; having alternate convexities and concavities on the surface.
4. Similar to or like a shell.
5. Of or relating to a mineral or rock surface that is characterized by smooth, shell-like curves: obsidian and quartz often have conchoidal fractures.

In a conchoidal form.

1. Pertaining to, or connected with, conchology.
2. A reference to a branch of zoology that deals with the study of mollusks and shells.

1. A collector and student of mollusc shells.
2. Someone who is a specialist in the branch of zoology that deals with the study of mollusks and shells.
3. A name given to the carrier-shell molluscs, based on their habit of attaching other shells, stones, etc., to their own shells.

To collect shells or to be involved with the study of shells.

1. The study of molluscs and their shells.
2. The hobby of shell collecting.
3. The science or study of shells and shell-fish.
4. A branch of zoology dealing with sea shells and the animals that inhabit them.

Conchology is the scientific study of shells of mollusks, a branch of malacology.

Conchologists (practitioners of conchology) may study animal shells to gain an understanding of the diverse and complex taxonomy of mollusks, or simply appreciate them for their aesthetic value.

Conchologists deal mainly with gastropods (snails), bivalves, Polyplacophora (chitons) and Scaphopoda (tusk shells).

Shell collecting, the "ancestor" or precurser of conchology, goes as far back as there have been people and beaches.

Someone walking on a beach picked up a shell for its beauty and then very likely would go out the next day to look for more specimens. This is still going on around the world wherever shells can still be found.

Fortune telling with sea shells: When the family was at the sea shore, their children loved to play conchomancy by choosing the nicest sea shells and telling each other if they were going to marry and have children in the future.

An instrument for measuring shells, or the angle of their spires.