Mollusks

Shell of the Week: The Miller Nutmeg

Last week, using the Exquisite False Dial as an example, I introduced open-coiling, a situation where successive shell whorls do not touch each other, each whorl maintaining regular, proportional distances from its neighboring whorls. Other gastropods with open-coiling are, for instance, some members of the nutmeg family Cancellariidae, such as Extractrix milleri (Burch, 1949), from the eastern Pacific Ocean including the Galápagos Islands (below), an attractive gastropod related to our Common N

A New Episode in a Successful Series!

I was very pleased that the Board of Trustees invited me to serve in the position of Interim Director for the recently renovated Museum. With more than 24 years of in-house experience—17 of which as the Museum Director—I am well-positioned to support the staff and community during this transition. I also intend on maintaining my activities as Curator, in particular as this relates to my role as principal investigator in grant-funded projects, such as the Digital Imaging Project funded by the In

Museum Receives Major Grant!

I am glad to report that the Museum received notice of grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for an important collection project. The project, funded via NSF’s Infrastructure for Capacity in Biology core program, is titled “Collaborative Research: Mobilizing Millions of Marine Mollusks of the Eastern Seaboard.” A consortium of fifteen collections* in the US was formed to improve on data and accessibility for about 3,000 species (over 4.5 million individual specimens) of marine

Shell of the Week: The Little Oat Marginella

Measuring up to 9 mm (about 0.35 inch), the Little Oat Marginella, Prunum bellulum (Dall, 1890) is a relatively common shallow-water species in the Caribbean and the tropical western Atlantic. The species has a relatively elongate shell, with the spire comprising about 1/7 of shell length. The aperture arrows posteriorly (“up” in the images), and the columella bears four folds, or plicae. The color is grayish- to blueish-white, and the shell surface in fresh or living specimens is smooth, glossy

Museum Collections and Future Pandemics

A recent article in the online World Economic Forum highlights the importance of natural history collections for the analyses, prediction, and preparation for future pandemics. Population growth and the easy nature of international and domestic travel facilitate the outbreaks and spread of viral diseases, which in many cases originate from micro-organisms associated with wildlife. Collections preserve specimens of animals and other organisms, and those specimens ultimately reflect the diversity

Shell of the Week: The Atlantic Rangia

Measuring up to 50 mm (about 2 inches), Rangia cuneata (G.B. Sowerby I, 1832) (also known as Gulf Wedge Clam) is a brackish water bivalve native to the Gulf of Mexico. The shell is heavy, whitish, and normally covered with a thick brown periostracum. As with most species of the family Mactridae, the ligament is internal. Capable of withstanding very low water salinities, the species has invaded estuaries of the East Coast of the US and northern Europe. The species is found locally in the Caloosa

Shell of the Week: The Santo Domingo Carditid

Glans domingensis (d’Orbigny, 1853) is a small clam that grows to about 6 mm (0.24 inch). The shell is squarish, with sharp, beaded radial ribs, and the shell margin is strongly notched, crenulated. The shell color is white with small, faint pink or orange spots. Do not confuse this species with the juveniles of its more common relative, the Broad-ribbed Carditid, Cardites floridanus. These latter are narrower, with the shell “beak” displaced to one of the sides. (In the figure, the inside of th

Shell of the Week: The Spiny Piddock

Jouannetia quillingi Turner, 1955 is a member of the family Pholadidae, a group that also includes the Angel Wing (Cyrtopleura costata), and piddock species of the genus Martesia. The shell measures up to 18 mm (3/4 inch), and the left and right valves differ from each other in this species, with concentric ribs stronger on the right valve. This species is rare in shallow water, preferring to bore into rocky or coral-related offshore bottoms. The presence of special mantle glands in this species

Strawberry Conchs Blossom at Museum!

Recently, Aquarium Curator Rebecca Mensch secured a few new animals for the Museum’s living gallery. One of them immediately caught my fancy: Early this week, I spent some quality time with a couple of Strawberry Conchs, Conomurex luhuanus (Linnaeus, 1758), observing some of their behavior and taking photos. They are really cool and super active, what a great choice for the aquarium! The Strawberry Conch resembles its distant cousins, the Florida Fighting Conch, but with a short-spired, cone-lik

Shell of the Week: The Lunate Crassinella

Giving continuity to our discussions on small local bivalves, I want to introduce one of the most distinctive species in that category: Crassinella lunulata (Conrad, 1834). Measuring at most 8 mm (about 0.32 inch), the Lunate Crassinella has an almost-triangular, flattish shell marked by 15–17 very distinctive, coarse, commarginal (“concentric”) ridges. The shell color shows variations of brownish to reddish-brown spots and rays, and the shell interior is usually brown. #crassinellalunulata #cra