Curator's Blog

Museum, research, and collection updates from Dr. José H. Leal, plus Shell of the Week, which highlights a different species every Friday. Most Shells of the Week—but not all—are found in Southwest Florida.

Dr. José H. Leal serves as the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum’s Science Director and Curator. He received his Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries from the University of Miami and has served at the Museum since 1996. Under his leadership, the Museum was awarded its first accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 2010.

José H. Leal

Nov 30, 2018

The Brown Eulima

The Brown Eulima, Microeulima hemphilli (Dall, 1884), is a slender gastropod of the family Eulimidae. Eulimidae are snails that parasitize the external or internal parts of echinoderms such as sea cucumbers and sea urchins, basically sucking their blood for a living. The Brown Eulima reaches about 5 mm (0.2 inch), and has a teardrop-shaped aperture, and smooth, brownish, slightly translucent shell. The shell in the images was collected by Phyllis Sharp on Sanibel in 2014. The

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The Brown Eulima