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

May 13, 2016

The Tampa Bay Top Snail

One most remarkable shallow-water species from Southwest Florida is the Tampa Bay Top Snail, Calliostoma tampaense (Conrad, 1846). Recently, I photographed one of our resident top snails, collected by Amy Tripp in Collier County. (Under a Florida State Special Activities License, museum staff and associates normally collect a limited supply of live mollusks for our live tanks, which are superbly maintained by staff marine biologist Rebecca Mensch.) The image of the live anima

José H. Leal

Aug 8, 2014

The Tampa Bay Top Snail

The scientific name of the Tampa Bay Top Snail, Calliostoma tampaense (Conrad, 1846), pays tribute not only to the place where the species was first found (the specific name tampaense), but also to a shell attribute, via the genus name Calliostoma, the pearly, beautiful (Greek kalos) shell opening, or “mouth” (Greek stoma). Calliostoma top snails are mostly omnivorous or feed on organic detritus, or, more rarely, carnivorous. The Tampa Bay Top Snail never reaches beyond an in

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Curator's Blog