These spiraled shells are commonly found washed up on beaches but few people know about the true origins or fascinating structures of these tiny shells. Most people guess that these shells are broken segments of a much larger spiral shell but they are in fact the internal calcified shell of a squid called Spirula spirula.

This small, mesopelagic (deep-sea) squid is one of the few cephalopods living that still retains a shell. The spirally coiled shell comprises of a series of chambers that provide osmatically regulated buoyancy control for the squid. In this piece I wanted to depict the shell as if it had been cut in half, exposing the various chambers and the siphuncle that runs through the shell.