Curator's Corner

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 27, 2020

Alphabet Cone and the Seven Chitons!

Shell Museum friend and photographer Amy Tripp captured this great image of seven Eastern Beaded Chitons, Chaetopleura apiculata, "hitchhiking" on an Alphabet Cone snail, Conus spurius, on Kice Island, to the south of Marco Island, Florida. Chiton shells are divided into eight ( or very rarely seven) plates, or valves. They belong to a class of mollusks named Polyplacophora (from the Greek words for "many," "plates," and "bearers"). The plates are interlocked, and are surrou

José H. Leal

Mar 31, 2017

The Eastern Beaded Chiton

Last week, I introduced the Striate Glass-Hair Chiton, mentioning that that species was the less common of two local shallow-water species of Chitons. Today, I present the other species, the more commonly found Eastern Beaded Chiton, Chaetopleura apiculata (Say, 1838). Chitons belong to a class of mollusks named the Polyplacophora (Greek for "bearers of many plates"). The Chiton shell is divided into eight (rarely seven) plates, or valves. The valves are interlocked, and are

José H. Leal

Mar 24, 2017

The Striate Glass-hair Chiton

Chitons belong to a class of mollusks named the Polyplacophora (Greek for "bearers of many plates"). The Chiton shell is divided into eight (rarely seven) plates, or valves. The valves are interlocked, and are surrounded by a tissue called the girdle. The Striate Glass-hair Chiton, Acanthochitona pygmaea (Pilsbry, 1893), is one of the two species of Chitons found locally in shallow-water. It may reach a tad more than 0.5 inch in size. The triangular central area of the valves

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