[Source] A shell flute was a shell drilled with a pattern of holes which was used by members of the sentient aquatic Mairan species to communicate in their native language. To use the flute, a Mairan individual would place the drilled side of the shell against its blowhole and play the music-like notes of the Mairan language. In 23 ABY, when Tenel Ka, the Hapan-Dathomiri princess, was staying on Reef Fortress Island on the planet Hapes, she used the translator droid M-TD to speak with a Mairan ambassador who was using a shell flute.