Mollusks

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

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

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

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

Thrilled With The Neptunea Award!

At the recent 2023 Conchologists of America Convention (COA) in Wilmington, North Carolina, I was honored with the celebrated Neptunea Award, along with my friends Bob and Alice Pace, and colleague (and friend) Dr Emily Vokes (not in the photo). The award was given for my “service to the science of Malacology as it applies to conchologists anywhere.” The honor is particularly meaningful to me, given that, as a professional malacologist, I always strived to narrow the perceived gaps between profe

Shell of the Week: The Depressed Top Snail

Calliostoma yucatecanum is one of the many eye-catching species of Calliostoma top snails found in moderately deep water off the southeastern USA and the Gulf of Mexico. Reaching about 16 mm (about 0.62 inch), the shell in this species is covered with spiral cords crossed by very fine axial lines. The color is cream-yellow, with little orangish marks flecked on the spiral ribs. The shell in the images was dredged in 1989 off Panama City (Florida Panhandle) between 30-60 m depth. Illustration is

Triton Children and Their Parents

Last Monday I posted “When the children look nothing like their famous parents” in the Museum’s social media: The original image showed two distinctive stages in the life of the Atlantic Triton Trumpet, Charonia variegata, a large marine snail that can be found offshore along the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, east coast of Florida, and the Keys. The 10 mm (about 3/8-inch) juvenile shell, shown here in the top-middle, looks nothing like the 330 mm (about 13-inches), adult shell of the same speci

Abalones Under Threat

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has since 1964 published the Red List of Threatened Species. The list is a great tool, informing about biodiversity and conservation, and providing data for policy change and protection of natural resources. Invertebrates such as mollusks have traditionally been neglected and only relatively recently have found their way into the Red List. The abalone family Haliotidae is one of the few families of mollusks with all known species covered