INVISIBLE FISH ARE YOU KIDDING
It is part of the Sea Shell Shop Tradition
"Hermit Crab Specialists since 1953"

Invisible fish have been a part of our history since day two of the Sea Shell Shops. When my parents started their first shops in Ft. Lauderdale there were very few gift shops much less shell shops in 1953. My Mother put a glass aquarium in the window of the shop when they first opened up. It was a large picture glass window with shelves built in and you could walk up and pick up anything on the shelves. Being a small shop, every inch of space was needed for display and selling. The aquarium had shells in it, sea fan and no water. That would have been too much trouble to keep clean. Well the second day the Sea Shell Shop was open a little boy came in with his older teenage brother. He walked all around then came up to my Father, who adored children and asked what was in the aquarium. My Dad thought about it for a few seconds and then said invisible fish. The little boy proceeded up to the aquarium and fished around with his hands then came running back to my Dad and said I think I have one. My Dad gave him a hermit plastic cup (empty of course) and said now take it home. The very next minute, my Mother put a sign on that aquarium that read "Invisible Fish." We have had an aquarium in our window ever since that day filled with invisible fish.

Many years later when I grew up and was very pregnant with our now youngest child and was not allowed to work in the shop my last month, my husband who used to pick me up and take me to the shop for the dinner hour together, said he had a surprise for me. He had made a bowl of invisible fish with empty little poly bags and a few shells in the bottom. Plus he hand wrote on the bags with a sticker "Invisible Fish." He filled a bowl with them. By the time I arrived my surprise was gone. Our employee had sold them all for 25¢ each. Well since that day some 20 years ago we are still selling Invisible Fish and the price has remained the same.

We now also have a Miniature Golf Course with many ponds next to one of our Sea Shell Shops. The first pond is a natural pond filled with Lilies, frogs, goldfish and it's also filled with Invisible Fish. We have a sign to prove it. You should watch the children (and many adults too) look for the Invisible Fish. It can be very enjoyable, as you can imagine. Some say they have blue eyes, that light up at night.

• Why we are know as the Hermit Crabs Specialists
• Our History