Author Archives: José H. Leal

The Eastern Seaboard Project – Geolocation in Progress

Geolocation is the process and technique of pinpointing the geographical location of something using digital information. Most of the National Shell Museum collection lots* have good geographical location (we know where they came from), but translating all that information into digital references is a laborious and time-consuming activity. Thanks to the Thematic Collections Network project “Mobilizing Millions of Mollusks of the Eastern Seaboard” funded by the National Science Foundation, and th

Eyes Communicate with Tentacles in Scallops

In 2019, I reported on the great work on the eyes of scallops done by Daniel Speiser and his team at the University of South Carolina. Among other finds, Speiser and his collaborators have shown that scallops can narrow their eye pupils upon exposure to light, and that the blue eye color of Bay Scallops and other scallops is produced by blue nanospheres that may help increase vision contrast. Scallops have a visual system of dozens of eyes distributed almost along the entire periphery of their s

Shell of the Week: The Dietz Rose Corbula

Caryocorbula dietziana is a small (reaching 15 mm, or 0.6-inch) bivalve of a family notorious for their difficult and confusing taxonomy, the Corbulidae, also known as Basket Clams. Its shell has the posterior ridge typical of the family. Like in most other corbulid species, the right valve is larger than the left one, and this difference is accentuated in this species as the clam grows older, which renders a gnarly aspect to those shells. The Dietz Rose Corbula may be rose, whitish, or cream-co

The New Octopus Garden

Social media has been abuzz with the finding of yet another deep-sea octopus nursery, this one off the coast of Costa Rica, at a depth of about 2,800 meters (about 9,200 feet). This is the third discovery of an octopus nursery in the deep ocean; in 2019 I reported in this blog about the finding of a nursery of Muusoctopus robustus*, then nicknamed “The Octopus Garden,” a gentle allusion to Ringo Starr’s song in the 1969 Beatles album Abbey Road. The original Octopus Garden was located near the D

Shell of the Week: The Barbados Miter

Probata barbadensis reaches up to 45 mm (about 1.8 inches). A marine gastropod of the miter family Mitridae, the Barbados Miter is found in relatively shallow water off the coast of east Florida, the Florida Keys, the Caribbean Region, and the western Atlantic south to eastern Brazil. The shell is attractive, with a regular pattern of spiral ridges set against a mostly smooth background. The columella, or central shell shaft, has five slanted folds (visible on the photo on right). The shell colo

Mollusks: More Than A Shell

Don't miss the new episode of Changing Seas! Seashells, with their beautiful shapes and colors, have inspired humans since the dawn of time. Equally fascinating are the mollusks that make them, and their unique place in the web of life. Researchers and citizen scientists continue to make new discoveries, while a cutting-edge digital project makes vast research collections easily accessible online. In case you missed the premiere of the first episode of the fifteenth series of Changing Seas on WP

Giant African Snails Strike Again!

Once again, Lissachatina fulica has been found in Florida, this time in Miramar, a city in south Broward County. This is one more episode in the saga of the introduction of Giant African Snails (GAS) in the Sunshine State. The species has been introduced to Florida and found at least four times since 1966, most recently in 2022. Most of the time these introduced snails were eradicated, at the expense of copious amounts of taxpayer-supported funds. Originally from East Africa, the species has bee

Shell of the Week: The Little White Trivia

Trivia candidula is a marine gastropod of the family Triviidae, the false cowries, or trivias. It reaches about 8 mm (about 0.32 inch), and has a pure white color and a typical shell sculpture of strong ribs that surround the entire shell. The spaces between the ribs are smooth. Generally speaking, trivias feed on sea squirts and colonial ascidians, but the exact feeding habits of the Little White Trivia are unknown. The species has a very broad distribution in the Atlantic Ocean: it is found in

Shell of the Week: The Bleeding Tooth

Nerita peloronta is one of the iconic Florida shells, mostly due to splash of red color on the parietal shield, which, combined with the tooth-like projections on that area, gives the species its common name. The Bleeding Tooth can reach 47 mm (about 1.9 inches), has a thick, globose shell with sculpture of low spiral cords, and white color with grayish or dark-gray streaks. The operculum is hard, calcified, with pustules on the attachment surface. The species is found on the intertidal (between

Collection Work, Full Tilt

Work continues at a steady pace in the collection area here at the National Shell Museum, while staff awaits for the restoration of some of the walls and ceiling in that part of the building. As renovation of the Living Gallery on the ground floor of the Museum advances, curation, cataloging, and deployment of collection specimens on the third floor proceeds at a remarkable rate, despite damage perpetrated by Hurricane Ian. The bulk of ongoing collection work focuses on the National Science Foun