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

Nov 10, 2017

The Smooth Risso

The Smooth Risso, Zebina browniana (d'Orbigny, 1842), is one the many micromollusks found on Sanibel and Captiva, but the only one from the gastropod family Zebinidae found locally. Reaching not more than 0.2 inch in size, it qualifies as a true micromollusk, as, by definition, micromollusks are those having shells not larger than 5 mm, or about 0.2 inch. The shell shape is conical and, as the common, or vernacular, name implies, smooth and devoid of any sculpture, smooth. Th

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