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

Oct 21, 2016

The Garden Zachrysia

The Garden Zachrysia, Zachrysia provisoria (L. Pffeifer, 1858), is a species of land snail commonly found on Sanibel, Captiva, and many other parts of Florida. The species is originally native to Cuba, and is an invasive to Florida, the Bahamas, and several Caribbean islands. Its shell is globose, measuring a tad more than an inch (reaching 30 mm), and is white and translucent, under a brownish “skin-like” periostracum. The aperture lip is white as the rest of the shell, but

José H. Leal

Oct 23, 2015

The Ponderous Ark

The Ponderous Ark, Eontia ponderosa (Say, 1822), is one of the most common shells found on the beaches of Sanibel and Captiva islands. One of the most striking features of this species is its dark-brown or black, velvet-like periostracum, the organic shell layer that covers part or the entire shell. Visiting beachgoers often confuse the periostracum of the Ponderous Ark for a layer of oil or tar that could have deposited on the white shell. Another feature that sets the Ponde

José H. Leal

Nov 28, 2014

The Atlantic Morum

The Atlantic Morum, Morum oniscus (Linnaeus, 1767) has a very characteristic, thick and heavy (for its size) shell with a sculpture of three spiral "rows" of squarish knobs. Its color is whitish or light gray with brown patches. Some shells retain its softer outer, or periostracum, which is dark-gray, velvety. Morum snails were included in the Helmet shell family Cassidae until 1987, when malacologists Hughes and Emerson demonstrated that it belongs within the harp shell fami

José H. Leal

Oct 17, 2014

The Giant Triton

The Giant Triton, Monoplex parthenopeus (Salis Marschlins, 1793), may be occasionally found on the local beaches. It is a large gastropod that may reach 6 inches in size. The Giant Triton, which has an extremely bristly, “hairy” periostracum (the outer shell layer of mollusks), should not be confused with the Hairy Triton, which is a smaller species that does not occur on the barrier islands of SW Florida. The Giant Triton has very broad distribution in the tropical and subtr

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