Mollusks

Shell of the Week: The Florida Miter

Dibaphimitra florida (A. Gould, 1856) reaches up to 74 mm (about 2.9 inches). A marine gastropod of the miter family Mitridae, it is found in relatively shallow water off the coast of east Florida, the Keys, and the northern Caribbean Region. The shell is attractive, with a regular pattern of small light-brown spots set against a yellowish-white background. I’ve seen novice shell enthusiasts confusing this species with the celebrated Junonia. Illustration by James F. Kelly for the Museum’s Digit

A Big World Record Size Shell!

The National Shell Museum received a new world record size shell for its collection! Mr. Donald Dan, of Fort Myers, Florida, generously acquired the record-size West Indian Chank, Turbinella angulata, for the Museum collection. The shell, collected years ago by shrimp fishermen offshore of Roatan, Honduras, measures 499 mm (just under 20 inches). The gift was reported in the Monday, February 13, online version of the Fort Myers News-Press, with a comprehensive interview about the species and the

FUM 2023

The thirteenth meeting of Florida United Malacologists will take place on Saturday, April 15, 2023, 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. The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum hosted the first FUM in 2010, and the event

Shell of the Week: The Eared Ark

Anadara notabilis (Röding, 1798), reaches 92 mm (about 3.6 inches). Its shell valves have about 25 to 27 radial ribs per whorl, with fine commarginal (“concentric”) lines cross the ribs, giving a beaded aspect to the valves in this species. The shell is white and the periostracum, when present, is brown and heavy (but not as heavy as in the Ponderous Ark, Noetia ponderosa. This species occurs in shallow water along the coast of East Florida and the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, but is no

Three New Nautilus Species!

Exciting news in the world of mollusks, with the recent description (the research article was published yesterday, January 25, 2023) by Gregory J. Barord and his collaborators of three new species of Nautilus. The three species occur respectively off American Samoa (Nautilus samoaensis), Fiji (N. vitiensis), and Vanuatu (N. vanuatuensis), all in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. The authors used contemporary techniques to define the new species, including evidence from shell and body anatomy, all val

The Gliding Olive

Lettered Olives, Oliva sayana, feed on marine worms, crustaceans, and small bivalves, among other prey items, but on occasion can be scavengers, feeding on the carcasses of dead fish, crabs, and other mollusks. They are fast-moving mollusks, as suggested by the little “bow waves” generated by the snail in the photo, as it moves through one-half-inch-deep water on Bunche Beach, Fort Myers, Florida (at low tide).

The 2023 Live Mollusk Count

On Sunday, January 22, volunteers and staff from the National Shell Museum and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation completed the 2023 Live Mollusk Count. The count took place along the Gulf side on the eastern end of Sanibel Island, at low tide, including 27 participants. National Shell Museum Science Director & Curator José H. Leal observed that “the 2023 Shell Count achieved very good results. The number of participants, methods, and count area lend themselves to comparisons with the J

A Little Sea Slug from Sarasota

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

Shell of the Week: The Mottled Miter

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

Complex Vision in Strawberry Conchs

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