British Columbia's coast is a cold water region of the Oregonian faunal province of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Although the outer coast is generally very rugged and exposed, the many inland waterways, inlets and islands allow for a great variety of marine habitats: rocky headlands and fine sandy beaches on the outer coast, muddy bays and river estuaries in more protected areas. Salinity also varies considerably from place to place, especially in the region surrounding Vancouver, due to the outflow of the Fraser River.

This Web site is devoted to the many species of shelled molluscs found on our coast. This site will eventually include most of the species one is likely to find on the British Columbia coast, some of which have ranges that extend beyond our borders as far as Oregon and California to the south or Alaska and Russia to the north. All species accounts include images scanned from shells in my own collection, so the nature of this list of shells is dictated by what I have available in my personal collection. Most of the common species will be found in this list; in the event that a non-pictured species may be confused with one I've shown, I will endeavor to describe the differences.