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.

José H. Leal

Jan 24, 2020

Striate Piddocks: Stowaways for Life

The Striate Piddock, Martesia striata (Linnaeus, 1758) is one of the species of wood-boring bivalves found along the coast of SW Florida. Its shells may be found on local beaches, always confined to pieces of driftwood, such as the little (11 cm, or about 4.5-inch) log in the top part of the picture. The log is riddled with the remnants of a few hundred Striate Piddocks. They may grow to be more than an inch long, and have free-living larvae that live in excess of a month dri

José H. Leal

Mar 6, 2015

The Striate Piddock

The inch-long Striate Piddock, Martesia striata (Linnaeus, 1758), uses its rough shell to bore through wood. Piddocks use the front end of their shells in a semi-circular motion to drill through the wood, creating a long, cylindrical hole that is occupied for life by the animal. To collect their shells, look for “Swiss cheese-like” driftwood with the characteristic boreholes indicative of their presence. The Striate Piddock (left) and driftwood bored by Piddocks and other C

José H. Leal

Mar 7, 2014

The Striate Piddock

The inch-long Striate Piddock, Martesia striata (Linnaeus, 1758), uses its rough shell to bore through wood. Piddocks use the front end of their shells in a semi-circular motion to drill through the wood, creating a long, cylindrical hole that is occupied for life by the animal. To collect their shells, look for “Swiss cheese-like” driftwood with the characteristic boreholes indicative of their presence. The Striate Piddock, Martesia striata, and a piece of bored driftwood f

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Curator's Blog

Striate Piddocks: Stowaways for Life

The Striate Piddock

The Striate Piddock