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

Jul 6, 2018

An Unnamed Dove Snail

Reaching only up to 9 mm (0.35-inch), this dove snail (family Columbellidae) in the genus Costoanachis is found locally (Southwest Florida) in shallow water, among seaweeds and sometimes seagrasses. The species, however, apparently has not been named: in the past, some authors called it Costoanachis sparsa (Reeve, 1859), but this latter species is something else. The shell is glossy, with about 20 narrow, somewhat straight ribs. The ribs are constricted by a number of fine sp

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