Mollusks

Shell of the Week: The Elliptical Sportella

Basterotia elliptica (Récluz, 1850) is one of the rarest species of bivalves in our area. The Museum collection only houses only one valve (half-shell) of the species! This nondescript “little white clam” grows to be around 10 mm (about 0.4 inches), and is very similar to its locally found, “sister” species, the Square Sportella (presented last week in this column.) The Elliptical Sportella, however, has a more elongate shell (not necessarily “elliptical’!) The slightly damaged valve illustrated

An Ancient “Paperclip”

It is hard to forget an animal whose common name evokes the shape of commonplace, mundane objects. Take for instance, hammerhead sharks, sea stars, stick bugs, skate rays, jackknife clams, saw fish, pear whelks, green bottle flies, and many others. The Paperclip “Squid” comes to mind as a great, simple name for a mollusk that really resembles that office device. The Paperclip “Squid,” Diplomoceras maximum, reached about 1.5 m (about 5 ft) in length, and was not a true squid, but a heteromorph am

Shell of the Week: The Square Sportella

Basterotia quadrata (Hinds, 1843) grows to be around 14 mm (about 0.55 inches), and has a “squarish” shell with irregular and variable outline. The shell has a slightly granular (“pebbly”) sculpture, and its hinge is garnished internally with one cardinal tooth on each valve. A ridge is present near the posterior margin. The presence of the species on Sanibel is represented in the Shell Museum collection by loose valves found in 2015–2016 by Susan J. Hewitt on Turner Beach. #squaresportella #bas

Shell of the Week: The True Tulip

Fasciolaria tulipa (Linnaeus, 1758) is one of the most celebrated local marine snails. Sometimes reaching in excess of 23 cm (about 9 inches), this voracious predator is known to feed on other mollusks and small invertebrates. The shell name alludes to its general shape, resembling a tulip (the flower.) The shell color is very variable, with variations around a theme of fine spiral bands and large irregular spots of orange, brown, reddish-orange, ochre, and similar colors. The animal itself is r

Shell of the Week: The Cuban Vitrinella

Cyclostremiscus cubanus (Pilsbry & Aguayo, 1933) is a very small member of the family Tornidae. The shell reaches only about 1.5 mm (0.06 inch) in diameter! The shell is disk-shaped, with a sculpture of three strong keels with moderately deep interspaces between them, with the abapical (away from the apex, in this case the “center” of the shell) one most prominent. Umbilicus large, base with a strong additional keel that forms the “lower” angle of the aperture. A series of well-spaced radial rib

Shell of the Week: The Orange-rib Drillia

Bellaspira pentagonalis (Dall, 1889) is a local, small member of the family Drilliidae that reaches only about 4 mm (0.16 inch). The shell is spindle-shaped, with a smooth, semi-glossy surface and about 6–7 rounded axial ribs. The aperture spans about 1/3 of the shell length. Color is pure-white, with large yellowish-brown spots.

National Shell Museum Turns 25!

November 18, the Museum's anniversary, is always a special day for us. But this Thursday, November 18, will be extra-special, as the Museum will be celebrating its Silver Anniversary, its first quarter century of many more quarter-centuries to come! It seems like yesterday that the Museum had its Grand Opening, but the organization has seen so much progress since that bright day on Sanibel Island. The Museum's uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the only professional, educational, and fully A

Shell of the Week: The Vespucci Dwarf Turrid

Nannodiella vespuciana (d’Orbigny, 1842) is a very small member of the family Clathurellidae that reaches only about 6 mm (0.24 inch). The shell is spindle-shaped, with about 14–16 axial ribs crossed by 5–6 spiral threads. The aperture has a very well-defined posterior canal, forming what is known as a “turrid notch.” Color is cream-white, with part of the whorls and the aperture caramel-brown.

“Eastern Seaboard Mollusks” in Social Media

A new Facebook group and Instagram and Twitter accounts were recently created to promote and discuss mollusks of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. The social media effort is based on "Mobilizing Millions of Marine Mollusks from the Eastern Seaboard (ESB) of the United States," a project recently funded by the National Science Foundation and involving 15 relevant mollusk collections in the country. The Eastern Seaboard of the USA includes 18 states, nearly 6,000 km of coastline, 73,000 k

Shell of the Week: The Steger Daphnella

Eucyclotoma stegeri (McGinty, 1955) is a member of the family Raphitomidae that reaches about 1.3 mm (about 0.5 inch). The species has a spindle-shaped shell, with whorls strongly angled at their periphery. The sculpture consists of 8­–12 axial ribs that are more prominent where the “angle” of each whorl is located (the periphery.) The color is whitish with flecks of grayish or brown color.