Shells

The Local Muricidae

This is the first of a series depicting some of the most biodiverse families of marine mollusks from Sanibel and Captiva islands. Here are ten relatively common shallow-water species of drills and murex snails in the family Muricidae. (More species are present in deeper water offshore.) Click on the species name to see their entries in our Southwest Florida Shells guide. They are: (1) Cabrit’s Murex (Vokesimurex cabritii); (2) Pitted Murex (Favartia cellulosa); (3) Mauve-Mouth Drill (Calotrophon

Wedding Shells and Wannabe Junonias

Gastropod species of the genus Babylonia, the babylon snails, are common in the southwest Pacific and parts of the Indian Ocean. They are predatory snails with shells measuring between one to two inches in size, and marked by large, well-defined brown spots. Some of the species are popular in the marine aquarium trade in many parts of the world.They are also a food staple in parts of Southeast Asia. Most likely following from their use as food, their shells are sold by the bushel in the Internet

Shell of the Week: The Caribbean Piddock-clam

Pholadomya candida is a very rare bivalve that is more closely related to fossil species than to most living clams. Shells of the species have been collected in a few localities of the Caribbean Sea. The species was first reported alive in the 1800s, then only again in the early 2000s when it was found off the coast of Colombia and communicated in The Nautilus by Juan Manuel Díaz and colleagues. We have only one complete specimen in the Museum collection, collected in 1999 off the coast of Venez

What’s in a Name?

I normally don’t bother you with this type of minutia, but here is a name change that affects an important (iconic, why not?) local species in Southwest Florida. Strombus alatus Gmelin, 1791, the Florida Fighting Conch, was shown to be the same species as the West Indian Fighting Conch, Strombus pugilis Linnaeus, 1758. This latter name was traditionally applied to populations of the East Coast, Keys, and Caribbean. Strombus pugilis is the older name of the two, so it is the one retained for the

Princess Margaret and Shells

Princess Margaret (The Countess of Snowdon, 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) of the United Kingdom. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II.  Robert Tucker Abbott (September 28, 1919 – November 3, 1995) was an American malacologist, author of dozens of shell-themed books, and Founding Director of our Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, as it was named back then. Through his writings, Tucker ins

Glowing Jewel Boxes

Ultraviolet (UV) light ("black light") reveals residual color patterns in fossil mollusk shells that would otherwise go undetected. UV light can also excite certain shell layers in different ways, as shown in this image of the inside of the two valves of a fossil Caribbean Spiny Jewel Box (Arcinella arcinella). (Photos of the valves under natural light are given for comparison.) While most of the internal surface of the valves glow a bright purple color, both adductor muscle scars and the pallia

Those Perfectly Clipped Lucines

Last June, my colleague malacologist Paula Mikkelsen sent an email inquiring about Tiger Lucines (Codakia orbicularis) found by a friend in the Bahamas. The shells were complete (two paired, attached valves), but in each case one of the valves was trimmed following a commarginal (“concentric”) pattern. The clams obviously grew a complete shell, but one of the valves was cut later to about half of its original diameter.Last week I received a similar inquiry from conchologist and friend Bev Doleza

Another Great COA Convention!

The 2024 Convention of Conchologists of America (COA) was held last week at the Hilton Melbourne Hotel, in Melbourne, Florida. The National Shell Museum & Aquarium was represented by Executive Director Sam Ankerson, yours truly, and Marine Biologist Chris Whitt. I presented the talk “Life After the Flood: Exhibits Renovation at the National Shell Museum & Aquarium,” including an outline of the revamped displays in the Museum’s “Living Gallery” and a sneak preview of the exhibits planned for the

Shell of the Week: The McGinty’s Cone

Conasprella mcgintyi (Pilsbry, 1955) belongs to the so-called “mazei complex” of western Atlantic Conasprella, along with other species of cone snails displaying slender, elegant shells with relatively long spires. The species can be found off both sides of Florida and the Florida Keys. It differs from the more widespread Conasprella mazei by the more diffuse color pattern, among other features. The maximum reported size for the species is 52.2 mm (about 2 in). The shell illustrated was collecte

Shell of the Week: The Bowden Murex

Pazinotus bowdenensis (E. H. Vokes, 1970), reaches about 14 mm (about 0.6 inch) in height. It shows a sculpture of about 6–7 strong varices per whorl. The varices bear prominent, curved spines on whorl shoulders. The color is whitish to cream-yellow, but some shells can be translucent and very delicately colored. The species was first named by Emily Vokes from a single fossil shell from the Bowden Formation (late Pliocene) in Jamaica but has since been found living off western Florida and Alabam