Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25850402-20150723062747/@comment-25850402-20161028053513

Hmcooper4 wrote: Which we did see a form of the seashell communication magic in season 3. In "Nasty Habits", Neal uses a shell to summon a giant squid. and again, in Ariel, Regina uses a shell to summon Ariel (specifically Ariel, since Regina was expecting her to show up). So I'm not 100% certain that the shell communication is limited to Mermaids, but is actually more a form of general magic that is accessible to those that know about it (generally sea people, or sea-faring people, like pirates).

The variation of this that we saw in "Strange Case" though, does tend towards specialized magic, since it not only involved a sending shell but also a receiving shell (which Killian carried). I think Ariel might have carried the receiving shell as well when Regina called her, and this kind of magic. I agree with you stating that anyone can use the shell communication, it's not limited mermaids, but anyone can also use fairy dust, and fairy dust is not limited to fairies. Humans may use magic originating from other magical beings, but it doesn't count as general magic. If a fairy's magic is categorized as a type of magic on it's own, why can't we put mermaid magic?