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

May 9, 2014

The Minor Jacknife

The Minor Jacknife (Ensis megistus Pilsbry and McGinty, 1943) has a very delicate, elongate shell with an unusual coloration that includes purplish vertical bars internally. It is a burrower, living in fine sand and mud. Minor Jacknives inhabit and can move up and down vertical or oblique, cylindrical burrows. A Minor Jacknife can burrow rapidly by using its foot as a piston inside their dwelling. In some extreme cases, individuals are known to leap out of burrows to evade p

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