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- The Registry of World Record Size Shells is a conchological work listing the largest (and in some cases smallest) verified shell specimens of various marine molluscan taxa. A successor to the earlier World Size Records of and R. Tucker Abbott, it has been published on a semi-regular basis since 1997, changing ownership and publisher a number of times. Originally planned for release every two years, new editions are now published annually. Since 2008 the entire registry has been available online in the form of a searchable database. The registry is continuously expanded and now contains more than 24,000 listings and 85,000 supporting images. Certain families of attractive shells (such as cones, cowries, marginellas, and murex) are particularly favoured by collectors. World record size shells (commonly indicated by the acronym 'WRS') of species in the most popular families are much sought after by some shell collectors, and can thus command high prices. Collections of such shells are exhibited at a number of specialist museums, including the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum. Maximum and minimum sizes are also of interest to malacologists, and may be useful in delimiting closely related species. As an extensive compilation of maximum shell sizes, the registry has found use as a data source for scientific studies. (en)
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