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.

Shell of the Week: The Bicolor Purse Oyster

José H. Leal

Mar 25, 2022

Shell of the Week: The Bicolor Purse Oyster

The Bicolor Purse Oyster, Isognomon bicolor (C.B. Adams, 1852), has an oval, very flat shell, with thin-walled valves and coarse, wavy, blade-like lamellae. The shell can reach 40 mm (about 1.6 inches.) Internally the shell has a small nacreous area, the non-nacreous area is wide, and the hinge in juvenile shells has a set of ridge-like teeth. This species is known to grow on rocks and hard structures in many areas of the Florida Keys. The complete shell in the illustration w

José H. Leal

Oct 15, 2021

Shell of the Week: The Flat Tree Oyster

Not a true oyster, Isognomon alatus (Gmelin, 1791) is a rare find along the coast of Southwest Florida, with very few examples from our immediate area present in the larger American museum collections. The species is common in the Tampa Bay area and along the east coast of Florida. There are a couple of holdings in our collection from Marco Island, but only recently we confirmed the presence of the species in Lee County. Lorin Buckner found and photographed a couple of Flat T

José H. Leal

Oct 1, 2021

The Locally Elusive Flat Tree Oyster

For years I’ve been searching for signs of the Flat Tree Oyster in our area. Not a true oyster, Isognomon alatus (Gmelin, 1791) is a rare find along the coast of Southwest Florida, with very few examples present (single digits) among the larger American museum collections. The species is found throughout the Caribbean, the Keys, and the East Coast of Florida. There are a couple of holdings in our collection from Marco Island, but only recently we confirmed the presence of the

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