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

Jan 8, 2021

Who Eats Whom?

Looks are sometimes deceptive; take, for instance, this photo taken by Amy Tripp at Kice Island, in Southwest Florida. To the unsuspecting viewer, it looks as if the larger Florida Fighting Conch (with orange shell) was eating the smaller Lettered Olive. The opposite, however, seems to be the case. Florida Fighting Conchs are herbivorous, feeding on seaweed, and Lettered Olives are “broad-spectrum” carnivores, feeding on a range of worms, little clams, and even feasting on de

José H. Leal

Feb 7, 2020

Fighting-Conch Sushi?

Northern Racoons, Procyon lotor (Linnaeus, 1758), eat mollusks and other types of shellfish. (The "other" racoon species, Procyon cancrivorus (Cuvier, 1798), found in Central and South America, is named after similar, crab-eating habits.) The young racoon in this cool photo was caught red-handed, half-way through a meal of Florida Fighting Conch, Strombus alatus (Gmelin, 1791). The image is by National Shell Museum collaborator Amy Tripp, who captured the moment at low tide o

José H. Leal

Jun 12, 2015

The Florida Fighting Conch

The Florida Fighting Conch, Strombus alatus Gmelin, 1791, is one of Southwest Florida’s best known and most abundant mollusks. So much could be said about that species, but today I want to focus on some differences between the juvenile (young) and the adult shells. In many species of the conch genus Strombus, the juvenile (young) shell differs considerably from that of the adult. The texture of the adult shell is usually smooth, and its color is very variable: there are diffe

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