This 12 mm (about 0.5 inch) Scaphella junonia already has the trademark brown spots that tipify the adult shells of the species. The young shell, however, has a reticulated (net-like) surface sculpture that is absent from the adult shell. Read more about the Junonia at https://tinyurl.com/a8dv8kkc. #scaphellajunonia #junonia #juvenilejunonia #capecanaveral
This small (about 11 mm, or about 0.5 inch) but endearing sea slug was originally identified as Flabellina dushia. It has a bluish-white, slightly translucent body with reddish cerata. The cerata contain expansions of the digestive tract that are used in some species to store the stinging cells of animals they eat such as sea anemones, hydroids, and sea fans. Not only the sea slugs can inhibit the action of stinging cells, but they also recycle the cells for their own defense. This slug was phot
True conchs in the family Strombidae have large, camera-type eyes that are extra well-developed and more complex when compared to the eyes of other gastropods. In Strawberry Conchs, Conomurex luhuanus, the eye contains a hemispherical lens, a cornea, a pupil surrounded by a pigmented iris, a vitreous body, and a cup-shaped retina consisting of several layers. The eye is very large in relation to body size and is very sophisticated, even when compared with those of other true conch species. Resea
Vexillum dermestinumLamarck, 1811 reaches about 17 mm (about 0.7 inch). The shell sculpture includes well-defined axial ribs and narrower spiral ridges. The columella has three strong, beaded folds. This species has a complex color pattern of brown bands and spots on a white and yellow background. The Mottled Miter occurs in the east coast of Florida and the Keys, Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean all the way to the tropical part of Brazil, but is not found in Southwest Florida. #vexillumdermestinum
Chitons are mollusks with eight (sometimes seven) shelly plates called valves. The Florida Slender Chiton, Stenoplax floridana Pilsbry, 1892 reaches about 38 mm (1.5 inches) and is about three times as long as it is wide. The central areas of valves bear strongly beaded longitudinal ribs, and the end valves have concentrically arranged beads. Its color can be whitish to whitish-green, with markings of darker green or gray This species is not uncommon in the coral reef habitats of South Florida a
Reaching about 70 mm in size, Spondylus tenuis Schreibers, 1793, is one of the few species of thorny oysters (family Spondylidae) found in the western Atlantic. Its shell comes in varied colors, including rusty brown, brick red, orange, cream-yellow, whitish, or variations of these hues. The sculpture consists of flat or pointy spines that are longer toward the edge of the shell. The lower valve is almost always cemented to a hard surface, such as rocks, ship wrecks, or oil platforms, but someti
Tucetona pectinata (Gmelin, 1791) is the most common out of two locally found species of the bittersweet family, the Glycymerididae. Its shell may reach 30 mm (about 1.2 inches), and is circular, with a sculpture of 20–35 relatively wide ribs that are flat in cross-section. As the image above shows, the ribs are overlaid with a microscopic sculpture of regularly spaced, commarginal (“concentric”) threads. The shell hinge (below) has about 20–24 small “teeth” that ensure that the shell valves clo
At about 4.5 mm (about 0.5 inch) in height, the Dubious Cerith, Finella dubia (d’Orbigny, 1840) is one of the small gastropod species that dwell in sea grass beds around Southwest Florida and other parts of the tropical Western Atlantic. Dubious Ceriths feed on plant and algal detritus. The shell is elongate, turret-shaped, with three or more strong spiral cords. The shell color may be cream-white to light-brown with faint spots of darker color. #finelladubia #dubiouscerih #scaliolidae #sanibeli
During field work in Fort Myers a few weeks ago, National Shell Museum Marine Biologist Jorden Falker captured this remarkable image of a Lightning Whelk (Sinistrofulgur sinistrum) holding a Sunray Venus clam (Macrocallista nimbosa) in preparation for a meal. Lightning Whelks are known to use the edge of their aperture (the external lip) as a “clam knife” to pry open bivalves. To that end, they have to place the clam just so, which they do using their big foot to adjust the clam’s position. Ligh
Melampus monile (Bruguière, 1789) reaches about 16 mm in length. The shell is bullet-shaped, widest at posterior (upper) third. The spire is low. The aperture spans about ¾ of the shell length. The columella has two folds, one larger. The outer lip is smooth, but the internal surface of the aperture has about 12 raised, narrow spiral ridges. The color ranges from mahogany-brown to yellowish, with one broad, whitish spiral band below the suture of the last whorl. The shell interior is whitish. Th