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

Jun 1, 2018

The Lightning Whelk, Part 2

Last week I discussed some of the distinguishing features of and cool facts about the Lightning Whelk, Sinistrofulgur sinistrum (Hollister, 1958). Today I want to explore certain aspects of the reproduction in this celebrated species. As with most of the large, predatory marine snails, Lightning Whelks have separate sexes, and females lay eggs inside protective egg capsules. Each egg capsule may contain a few dozen eggs, and capsules are attached to each other through a strin

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