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.

Shell of the Week: The Left-handed Melampus

José H. Leal

May 3, 2019

Shell of the Week: The Left-handed Melampus

The Left-handed Melampus, Blauneria heteroclita Montagu, 1808, is an unusual gastropod found in mangrove areas of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the southeastern United States. Its sinistral (left-handed) shell reaches about 5 mm (0.2 inch), is slender, bullet-shaped, with a glossy surface (when well-preserved), covered with microscopic growth lines. The Left-handed Melampus belongs to the family Ellobiidae, a group of air-breathing (pulmonate) snails that evolved to

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