Mum fined £69,000 after kids pick up 72 clams on beach which they mistakenly thought were seashells

A US mother was left utterly blindsided earlier this year after being dealt a staggering £69,000 bill following a day at the beach with her family.

Apparently, California resident Charlotte Russ made the devastating mistake of neglecting to consider the America's strict rule on fishing licences before she allowed her young children to go on a scavenger hunt for shells - or, at least, what they thought were shells...

What Charlotte's brood had actually been collecting on the fun-fuelled day at the seaside, however, was a batch of 72 rather pricey clams - something the horrified mum was only made aware of after she was handed a hefty $88,000 fine.

The children had innocently scattered themselves across the sand on the hunt for the most eye-catching shells, later storing them in their mother's truck to be transported home to be transformed into decoration.

The family had no idea, however, that they'd actually broken state regulations by unknowingly collecting shellfish, as opposed to just shells.

As a result, Charlotte found herself in some very hot water indeed - pardon the ocean puns...

The woman was handed a hefty bill after her children collected some clams. (ABC7)

It turns out that the Russ family were in need of a fishing licence before they began inadvertently collecting the undergrown clams, which - it later transpired - were prohibited from collection even with the right paperwork.

Speaking on the matter on behalf of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Lieutenant Matthew Gil later explained which rules exactly Charlotte had broken, revealing that the fact that the clams her children selected were not fully grown was the major issue.

"The reason we got it we have these regulations is because we have to let them get to 4 and a half inches," he told ABC7. "So they can have they can have offspring every year. They had juvenile clams."

Gil also went on to emphasise how exactly families - particularly children - can tell the difference between a clam and a shell, revealing that, if you cannot easily take a presumed shell apart, or split it, then it's very probably a clam.

Recalling the predicament she found herself in earlier this year, Charlotte said she was initially terrified.

Charlotte thankfully managed to escape with a $500 bill. (ABC7)

"It made me really sad and depressed, and it kind of ruined our trip," she admitted, adding that she's certainly learned her lesson by now.

"They [kids] know now at the beach don't touch anything, but they know now what a clam is, compared to what a seashell is now, I've had to explain that to them."

Thankfully, the Russ family were let off with the colossal fine, having evidently had no idea she or her children had committed a fine.

She did, however, have to pay a one-off sum of $500 for the faff of the matter.