How to Clean Live Seashells
- 1). Fill a cooking pot with enough water to thoroughly submerge the live seashell. Bring the water to a full boil on the stovetop.
- 2). Submerge the seashell in the boiling water. Let the seashell cook for five minutes to loosen the dead organism or organism tissue.
- 3). Put on gloves and use tongs to remove the seashell from the boiling water. Pry the loosened organism and tissue out of the seashell using tweezers. Set the seashell aside.
- 4). Fill an ordinary bucket with equal parts water and chlorine bleach. Prepare enough bleach solution to completely immerse the seashell.
- 5). Soak the seashell in the bleach solution until the shell's flaky outermost coating (the periostracum) comes off. Seashells can safely soak in bleach for several days.
- 6). Remove the seashell from the bleach solution. Thoroughly rinse the seashell in fresh water.
- 7). Let the seashell air-dry completely.