Author Archives: José H. Leal

Princess Margaret and Shells

Princess Margaret (The Countess of Snowdon, 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) of the United Kingdom. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II.  Robert Tucker Abbott (September 28, 1919 – November 3, 1995) was an American malacologist, author of dozens of shell-themed books, and Founding Director of our Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, as it was named back then. Through his writings, Tucker ins

A Hungry Giant Triton!

Check this Giant Triton (Monoplex parthenopeus), happily feasting on a clam in the Focal Tank at the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium. Its proboscis is deep inside the clam shell! Giant Tritons feed on other mollusks. The species is relatively common in the western Atlantic and is also present in parts of the Indian and Pacific oceans. Notice the lush, hair-like periostracum, or outer shell layer and its “polka-dot” spotted mantle, foot, and proboscis! This particular individual

Shell of the Week: The Bubble Melampus

Melampus bullaoides is a close relative of the more common and local Coffee Melampus (Melampus coffea). Like the Coffee Melampus, the Bubble Melampus lives in mangrove areas, where it thrives well above the tide lines. The shell shape of the Bubble Melampus is strikingly different, however; this species has a relatively longer and pointed spire and shorter aperture (shell “opening”). This imparts a “bullet shape” to the shell. The shell color is mahogany-brown, with fuzzy white bands near the sh

The Common Jingle and its Byssus

Widespread on the beaches of Southwest Florida, Common Jingles (Anomia simplex) appear in many colors. In the jingle family Anomiidae, the top shell valve is whole, while the bottom one has an opening.Like mussels and some other bivalves, jingles are attached to hard surfaces by a byssus, which originates from a gland in the foot. In jingles, that opening on the bottom valve lets the byssus pass through the shell before attaching to the host surface.In mussels and other bivalves, the byssus usua

Shell of the Week: The Small Phos

Bailya parva is a small but attractive gastropod that reaches only 20 mm (about 0.8 inch). Its shell sculpture presents 10–12 axial (“vertical”) ribs crossed by spiral lines, with beads forming at the intersections. The shell color is yellowish- to mahogany-brown with broad white bands. The species is found off Florida, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. This species may be difficult to distinguish from the Intricate Phos (Bailya intricata), a species with similar distribution; this latter,

Shell of the Week: The Agassiz’s Nutmeg

Agatrix agassizii (Dall, 1889) reaches 13.5 mm (about 0.53 inch). It has a distinctive shell shape with well-defined whorl shoulders, which impart a “stepped” aspect to the entire shell. The species is found in moderately deep water (33 to 91 m, or about 108 to 300 feet) from off the Carolinas to the northern Caribbean, including the northeastern Gulf of Mexico and the waters off western Florida.   #agatrixagassizii #agassizsnutmeg #cancellariidae #cancellariaagassizi #cedarkey

Those Perfectly Clipped Lucines

Last June, my colleague malacologist Paula Mikkelsen sent an email inquiring about Tiger Lucines (Codakia orbicularis) found by a friend in the Bahamas. The shells were complete (two paired, attached valves), but in each case one of the valves was trimmed following a commarginal (“concentric”) pattern. The clams obviously grew a complete shell, but one of the valves was cut later to about half of its original diameter.Last week I received a similar inquiry from conchologist and friend Bev Doleza

The Reverse-coiled Whelks Project

I am working on a research project with colleagues Jerry Harasewych (Smithsonian) and Manuel Tenório (University of Cádiz, Spain) involving studies of shell shape in two species of whelks. If you have one or more right-handed (reverse-coiled) Lightning Whelks (*Sinistrofulgur sinistrum*) and / or left-handed Knobbed Whelks (*Busycon carica*) in your private or institutional shell collection, we would like to photograph them or have you assist by photographing them for us. Please send answers / q

Thrush Cowrie in the Florida Panhandle

The invasive Thrush Cowrie (Naria turdus) has been found off Panama City Beach, in the Florida Panhandle. In early July, diver and shell enthusiast Doug Thompson was diving inside a shipwreck located at a depth of 24 m (about 78’), when he found a “fresh dead” Thrush Cowrie shell. Doug reported that other divers had found the species living in the same area and off Destin, also in the Panhandle.  Originally from the Red Sea and western Indian Ocean, the tenacious invasive was first reported in t

Shell of the Week: The Giant Eastern Murex

Reaching in excess of 213 mm (about 8.4 inches), Hexaplex fulvescens is the largest murex species in the western Atlantic and one of the largest in the world’s oceans. Its massive shell is garnished with pointy spines and is very variable, appearing in tawny-brown, yellowish-brown, orangish, cream, and any number of variations of these colors (the Latin word fulvescens can be translated as “yellowish”). The species is found from North Carolina to Palm Beach County in Florida, and in the Gulf of