The Little Nut Semele, Semelina nuculoides (Conrad in Hodges, 1841), is a member of the Semele family, the Semelidae. Some of its better-known, local relatives are the Purplish Semele and the Cancellate Semele, both already covered in this column. Unlike these other members of the Semelidae, however, the Little Nut Semele is rather small, with adults measuring at most 6 mm (or a little under a quarter inch). The small size and whitish color make this shell difficult to identify without the help of a hand lens or small microscope. The Little Nut Clam was first collected in our area (Turner Beach, on the Captiva side of Blind Pass) by Susan J. Hewitt, in December 2014.
The Little Nut Semele, Semelina nuculoides, from Captiva Island. Photo by José H. Leal.