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

Sep 23, 2016

The Leafy Jewel Box

The Leafy Jewel Box, Chama macerophylla Gmelin, 1791, is probably the most commonly found Jewel Box (family Chamidae) along the beaches of Sanibel and Captiva. Unlike its close relative, the free-living (and also locally found) Spiny Jewel Box (Arcinella cornuta), the Leafy Jewel Box attaches itself to hard structures such as shells, pieces of coral rock, or man-made objects such as shipwrecks and concrete bridge pilings. The attached, or lower, shell valve is deeper than the

José H. Leal

Sep 9, 2016

The Smooth Atlantic Tegula

Although the Smooth Atlantic Tegula, Tegula fasciata (Born, 1778), may be commonly found in other parts of Florida and of the western Atlantic Ocean, it is rarely found on Sanibel. Its shell may be almost an inch long, with a depressed ("flattened") spire, smooth, and about six whorls (shell “turns”) in fully grown specimens. The shell base is smooth, with a deep umbilicus (the “hole” under the shell). The color in this species is extremely variable, with many combinations of

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