Author Archives: José H. Leal

Shell of the Week: The Salle Auger

Hastula salleana (Deshayes, 1859), is a marine snail of the auger family Terebridae that may reach about 40 mm (about 1.6 inch) in height. Hastula augers inhabit sandy beaches, where they thrive along the boundary between land and water, being most active during ebbing tides. Hastula augers are known to feed on polychaete worms. They inject a cocktail of toxins into their prey using their hypodermic-needle-like radular teeth, in the same manner as their cousins, the cone snails. The species is f

FUM 2023, This Weekend!

The thirteenth meeting of Florida United Malacologists will take place this Saturday, April 15, at the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Fish & Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI), in St. Petersburg, Florida. The one-day gathering typically includes presentations by researchers, enthusiasts, citizen scientists, educators, and students, and covers a broad swath of mollusk-related topics. This year’s event will include 15 presentations covering a broad swath of topics in malac

Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw

The above expression, immortalized by Lord Tennyson in his poem, “In Memoriam A.H.H.” serves as an appropriate caption for this powerful image by Amy Tripp of a Ring-billed Gull, Larus delawarensis, ready to eat what looks like a Pigmy Octopus, Octopus joubini. But in this case, the metaphor, which embodies the violent nature of predation, should be something like “Nature, clear in beak and claw,” as the “blood” of octopuses is clear-colored, and birds have beaks without teeth. Gulls are basica

“Loco” is the “Mollusk of the Year” for 2023!

For a few years now, the Senckenberg Museum Frankfurt, the LOEWE Center for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (TBG), and Unitas Malacologica have been promoting the election of “Mollusks of the Year.” The endeavor is non-discriminatory: Anyone can nominate their favorite species, from any geographic area. Species from marine, land, and freshwater environments are eligible. The selection takes place in March ever year, and TBG will sequence the complete genome (the entire DNA, comprising all ge

Shell of the Week: The Smooth Sundial

Psilaxis krebsii (Mörch, 1875) is a marine snail of the sundial family Architectonicidae that may reach about 14 mm (about 0.5 inch) in diameter. The characteristic “UFO-shaped” shell has slightly convex whorls; the shell surface is basically smooth, except for very weak spiral cords near the shell periphery (the “outer rim” of the shell) and a prominent cord at the periphery. The umbilicus is wide and deep, with the “staircase-like” edge that is typical of many sundial species. The background c

New Museum Research on Crown Conch Egg Capsules

Did you ever wonder what exactly happens when a marine snail lays its egg capsules? A cool video clip of a female Crown Conch depositing its egg capsules is central to the short scientific note recently published by National Shell Museum staff explaining the process. The note, titled “Observations on the mechanism of egg capsule deposition in Melongena corona (Mollusca: Gastropoda) based on a time-lapse video,” by Carly Hulse, José H. Leal, and Joseph R. Powell, was accepted for publication in t

The Thrush Cowrie in South Florida

In a research note to be published next week in the Museum’s shell-science journal The Nautilus, Anton E. Oleinik, José H. Leal, Anne DuPont, and Nuch Uthairat record and discuss the recent finding of the non-indigenous Thrush Cowrie, Naria turdus, in the waters of Lake Worth Lagoon, in Palm Beach County, Florida. The species, which had previously been documented in several Caribbean islands, is native to the Red Sea and western Indian Ocean. It’d be interesting to hear from our readers in case

Shell of the Week: The Small-callus Vitrinella

Teinostoma parvicallum Pilsbry & McGinty, 1945, reaches only about 2 mm (0.08 inch) in diameter. The shell is smooth except for very faint growth lines, which are more noticeable around the suture, or the groove separating two successive whorls. There is a small callus (thickening) at the center of the umbilicus (the “hole” on the base of the shell). As with many members of the micromollusk family Teinostomatidae, the shell color is translucent-white. This species is among the smallest found on

The Allure of Small Size

Micromollusks, by definition, never grow larger than 5 mm (0.2 inches). Despite their small size, micromollusks may have shells as attractive as those of their larger-sized cousins, and have life processes just as complex. Scientific surveys done in different regions of the planet indicate that very large shares of the marine mollusk biodiversity in those areas consist of micromollusks. For instance, on Sanibel and Captiva islands (Florida) alone, there are at least 20 species of vitrinellas (ph

Shell of the Week: The Clawed Marginella

Dentimargo idiochila (Schwengel, 1943), reaches 6 mm (about 0.24 inch). The shell has a relatively long, pointed spire, an aperture that spans about half of the shell length, and the columella with four folds. The shell is smooth, glossy, yellowish, sometimes with two whitish bands on the last shell whorl. The species is found along the coast of east Florida and the Florida Keys. The distinctive feature on the shell of this species is the prominent tooth-like, or claw-like projection on the ante