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

Jan 5, 2018

The Mangrove Periwinkle

This is another encore for a local species, as I featured the Mangrove Periwinkle, Littoraria angulifera (Lamarck, 1822), originally in this column on May 29, 2015. As the vernacular name implies, Mangrove Periwinkles inhabit the trunks and branches of mangrove trees, in particular those of the Red Mangrove. Periwinkles may reach 1.25 inches; they are marine snails highly adapted at living completely out of sea water, usually high above the intertidal ("between tides") zone.

José H. Leal

May 29, 2015

The Mangrove Periwinkle

The Mangrove Periwinkle, Littoraria angulifera (Lamarck, 1822), is an inch-long marine gastropod that inhabits the fringes of mangrove forests of the western Atlantic Ocean, including the barrier islands of Southwest Florida. Unlike its close relative, the Cloudy Periwinkle, which forms aggregations on dead tree trunks and other dead wood, the Mangrove Periwinkle prefers to live on live mangrove trees, in particular on the prop roots, trunk, and branches of Red Mangrove trees

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