Mollusks

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

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

“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

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

Safety in Numbers?

Cone snails are known to perform communal spawning (AKA as group spawning), where many females deposit their egg capsules in the same spot. But it looks like this small group of communal-spawning cone snails include two species, the Florida Cone, Conus anabathrum, and the Alphabet Cone, Conus spurius. They were apparently laying their eggs on an empty Horseshoe Crab carapace, at Caxambas Pass, south of Marco Island, Florida. We accept that the communal spawning behavior supposedly improves on th

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

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).