Author Archives: José H. Leal

The Angel Risso

At only 6 mm (about ¼ inch), the Angel Risso, Rissoina angeli Espinosa & Ortea, 2002, is another member of the rich micromollusk fauna found in the shallow waters of the barrier islands of Southwest Florida. Its shell is distinctive, with an elongate-conical shape, and a fine sculpture of 25 large ribs per whorl and finer spiral threads that do not cross those ribs (you will need a strong magnifying glass small microscope to be able to see the delicate microsculpture on this shell). The color i

The Emerson Miniature Cerith

Emerson Miniature Cerith, Retilaskeya emersoni (C.B. Adams, 1839) is one of those shells that could compete for the throne of “most handsome” local shell, if only it were five times larger than its actual size! But at 8 mm (0.3 inch) in average size, these Miniature Ceriths go unnoticed by most except for the serious microshell collectors. The species boasts an elegant sculpture of three tows of rounded, sometimes glossy beads, with the shell whorls separated by a well-defined groove (known as s

The Amber Glassy Bubble

The Amber Glassy Bubble, Haminoea succinea (Conrad, 1846) has a very thin, glass-like shell. It belongs in the same Glassy Bubble Genus, Haminoea, as the Antilles Glassy Bubble, a species covered in this column a couple of years ago. Live glassy bubbles can be seen, sometimes in large numbers, in the bays and protected seagrass flats of Southwest Florida, in particular during the Spring. Glassy bubbles completely envelop their shells with their bodies. The different species are all simultaneous

The Florida Caecum

These two pictures show the same shell, the Florida Caecum, Caecum floridanum Stimpson, 1851, a tiny gastropod not uncommon on the sandy beaches of SW Florida and that measures no more than 4 mm (a tad beyond 1/8 inch). The genus name Caecum means “blind” in Latin, and the word is also used for any structure that ends in a blind tube or pouch. The photo on top was taken under a standard microscope, and the one on the bottom with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a sophisticated piece of equi

The Ravenel Scallop

The Ravenel Scallop, Euvola raveneli (Dall, 1898) is one of the most elusive among the local Scallop species. It is certainly the rarest of all shallow-water Scallop species occurring in Southwest Florida (excluding the Lions Paw, Nodipecten nodosus (Linnaeus, 1758), which lives in slightly deeper water). The Ravenel Scallop can be readily distinguished from the similar and relatively more common Ziczac Scallop, Euvola ziczac (Linnaeus, 1758), by the "split" or "double" radial ribs on the right

The Miniature Moon Snail

The Miniature Moon Snail, Tectonatica pusilla (Say, 1822) is a member of the Moon Snail family Naticidae, which includes the locally common Shark Eyes (two species) , and the not-so-common, but not too rare, Colorful Moon Snail. Miniature Moon Snails are also found locally, but are much rarer than those other members of the Naticidae family. They are also much smaller, with adult shells reaching only about 8 mm (about 1/3 inch). The shells have a color pattern of pale, wavy lines that is more pr

The Catesby Risso

The Catesby Risso, Schwartziella catesbyana (d’Orbigny, 1842), is one of the relatively common micromollusks found in Southwest Florida and other areas of the Western Atlantic. The elegant little shell measures about 4 mm (0.16 inch); the shell of a living snail is transparent , but becomes opaque after the animal dies. Fresh dead shells are often translucent. Micromollusk shells may be collected using a method that involves collection of shell-rich sand, which, after drying and sorting using a

The Dubious Cerith

At about 0.5 inch in size, the Dubious Cerith, Finella dubia (d’Orbigny, 1840) is one of the small gastropods dwelling 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 strong spiral cords. The shell color may be cream to light-brown with faint spots of darker color. The additional image, taken under a high-power scanning electron microscope (SEM), shows a

The Atlantic Yellow Cowrie

Most species treated in this column are local. Once in a while, I introduce a shell from elsewhere that, for some remarkable reason, deserves some attention. The Atlantic Yellow Cowrie, Erosaria acicularis (Gmelin, 1791), is a relatively common Cowrie inhabiting shallow coral reef areas in the tropical western Atlantic. The species is not found, however, on the coast of Southwest Florida. As it happens with most species from the Cowrie family (Cypraeidae), the Atlantic Yellow Cowrie bears plankt

The Precious Cardiomya

The Precious Cardiomya, Cardiomya gemma AE Verrill and Bush, 1898, is a locally found bivalve that rarely exceeds 1/4 inch in size. Its delicate shell is characterized by 4-5 radial, well-separated ridges on the central part of the shell, and the rostrum that protrudes from its posterior end (arrow in figure). The rostrum houses the bivalve's raptorial incurrent siphon, the main structure involved in the capture of prey by this carnivorous mollusk. Cardiomyas and related species feed on small cr