Curator’s Corner

Museum, research, and collection updates from Dr. José H. Leal, plus Shell of the Week, which highlights a different species every other Friday. Most Shells of the Week are found in Southwest Florida.

Dr. José H. Leal serves as the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium’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.

Ruby, the Whale, and the Bone-eating Snails

Some mollusks can be highly specialized in their feeding habits. Take, for instance, Rubyspira osteovora Johnson et al., 2010 (photo), a deep-sea gastropod that is found only on or around the skeletons of dead whales. In 2010, Shannon B. Johnson of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and her collaborators first named the genus Rubyspira after the nickname of the whale skeleton on which the species was first retrieved, Ruby, combined with spira, Greek and Latin for coil or spira

2019 Conchologists of America Convention on Captiva

The 2019 Conchologists of America Convention will take place on nearby Captiva Island on June 19–23, with field trips planned for June 17–18. The Convention has as its theme the birth centenary of noted American malacologist and National Shell Museum’s Founding Director, Dr. Robert Tucker Abbott. The Museum will be hosting an open house/reception on July 18 at 6 pm. The reception will be open to all full registrants to the Convention. Click here to download the registration form and get more in

The Shell Museum’s Own Bone-eating Snails

This shell of the bone-eating snail Rubyspira osteovora Johnson et al., 2010 is part of the National Shell Museum collection, catalogue number BMSM 20687. It was retrieved, in March 2009, by Robert Vrijenhoek & Sharon Johnson, both of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), using their Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Doc Ricketts at the Ruby whale fall, at 2,894 m (about 9,495 ft). It measures about 40 mm, and was donated to the Museum by Robert Vrijenhoek for display in our “Deep

The Miniature Lucine

At about 10 mm (about 0.4-inch) the Miniature Lucine, Radiolucina amianta (Dall, 1901), is one of the smallest among many species of the family Lucinidae found along the barrier islands of SW Florida. There are at least 13 lucinid species found on local beaches—the Buttercup Lucine, Anodontia alba, is probably the best known among them. Lucinid clams are known to host chemosynthetic bacteria in their body tissues; these bacteria derive their life energy from simple chemical reactions (in contras

The Tower Pyram

Just like the Netted Pyram, Peristichia agria Dall, 1889, presented last week in this column, the Tower Pyram, Peristichia toreta Dall, 1889, is a local gastropod of the hyper-diverse family Pyramidellidae. The Tower Pyram shell is slender, elongate, reaching 11 mm (about 0.4 inch) in length. The shell sculpture includes three spiral cords and single smooth, narrow spiral thread just above suture (the groove between two whorls); about 30 narrow axial ribs are present. As with the Netted Pyram, a

First Child Love!

If you have more than one child, do you love the first one more than the other(s)? I believe I feel the same love for my two daughters, but when it comes to the shells I named, the first one stands out in the way I care for them. Last week, I was delighted to see a wonderful pair of images of Arene flexispina (Leal & Coelho, 1985), the first species of mollusks I named, posted in the JaxShells.org website. The two images were taken by one the great contemporary shell (and living mollusk) phot

The Netted Pyram

The Netted Pyram, Peristichia agria Dall, 1889 is a local gastropod of the hyper-diverse family Pyramidellidae. Its shell may reach 7 mm (about 0.3 inch), and the surface sculpture includes three spiral (“coiling”) cords (four on last whorl) crossed by about 20 axial ("vertical") ribs. The combination of spiral cords and axial ribs impart a reticulated, or net-like, pattern to the shell surface, and small nodules form at the intersections of the cords and ribs. The shell color is cream-white. Py

The Sibling Tellin

The Sibling Tellin, Ameritella consobrina (d’Orbigny, 1853) is a local bivalve of the diverse family Tellinidae. Its shell may reach 12 mm (about 0.5 inch), and is sculptured with commarginal (“concentric”) lines and oblique striations. “Fresh-dead” shells may be translucent, with iridescent undertones, and the color pattern may include reddish or pink rays inside and outside. The pair of valves illustrated was collected by Dr. Jim Scatterday in early 2015 on the East End of Sanibel. The Sibling

The Beautiful Crassatella

The Beautiful Crassatella, Kalolophus speciosus (A. Adams, 1854) is a medium-sized local clam that reaches about 50 mm (2 inches). A member of the family Crassatellidae, the Beautiful Crassatella has a heavy, wedge-like shell with a surface sculpture of about 50–60 commarginal (“concentric”) ribs. Beautiful Crassatellas are light-yellow, orangish-yellow, sometimes orange, and are common occurrences in the Florida fossil record. The Beautiful Crassatella, Kalolophus speciosus, from Sanibel. Photo

The Dusky Cone

The Dusky Cone, Conasprella stearnsii (Conrad, 1869) is one of three locally found species of cone snails, family Conidae. The species reaches about 25 mm (one inch), with the shell spire usually encompassing 1/3 of the shell length, and the entire shell is covered with raised spiral lines. The color pattern on the shell is very variable, usually with combinations of brown markings of different intensities set against a whitish background. Most cone snails feed on marine worms, and the Dusky Con