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 5, 2015

The Atlantic Pearl Oyster

Although other mollusks are capable of producing pearls, the emblematic bivalve making true, valuable, old-fashioned pearls is the Silver-lip Pearl Oyster, Pinctada maxima (Jameson, 1901), which may reach about 12 inches in size. That species is not native to the Atlantic Ocean, and its closest relative in our area is the much smaller Atlantic Pearl Oyster, Pinctada imbricata (Röding, 1798), at about 3 inches. The pictures show the shell and a live individual of the Atlantic

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Curator's Corner