Mollusks

Shell of the Week: The Painted Egg Cockle

Laevicardium pictum (Ravenel, 1861) is one out of three species of smooth-shelled cockles found in our local beaches. The species name (pictum, painted) alludes to the typical, very variable pattern of streaks and zigzag markings present on the shell. The Painted Egg Cockle is not as commonly found as other cockle species, probably because it lives in deeper water. The species is found most abundantly after episodes of costal re-nourishment, when sand, mollusks, and other animals from offshore a

Cute Newborn Cuttles!

The Museum is home to five newborn Stumpy Cuttles! The infant Sepia bandensis (below) were born on the first week of June 2020, hatching from eggs laid by one of our resident cuttles. They currently measure around 7 mm (about 0.3 inch); the species, which may reach 70 mm (2.8 inches), and is native to the Philippines, Indonesia, and neighboring areas. Our little cuttles look pretty much like their parents, with light-brown to greenish-yellow color, mantles resembling “coats of spines,” and fins

Shell of the Week: The Atlantic Abra

The Atlantic Abra, Abra aequalis (Say, 1822), is yet another little (7 mm, or about 0.3 inch) bivalve that could be included in the group that amateur and professional malacologists affectively call “little white clams”, or “LWCs.” These are several species of small, whitish bivalves that could be easily confused with one another, even by seasoned shell enthusiasts! The Atlantic Abra has a shell surface that is almost smooth, bearing only a very fine sculpture on the anterior margin of the right

snails on a leaf

A Critically Endangered Snail

Achatinella mustelina, is a rare species of Hawaiian tree snail currently classified as “critically endangered” in the Red List published...

Shell of the Week: The Concentric Ervilia

Measuring 5.5 mm (0.22 inch) at most, Ervilia concentrica (Holmes, 1860) is one of the smallest bivalves found on our barrier islands beaches. The species belongs in the same family (Semelidae) as its more famous (and larger) cousins, the Purplish Semele and the Atlantic Semele. The shell is elongate, with the umbo (or beak) situated almost centrally, and its sculpture consists of very fine commarginal (concentric) ridges. The prevailing color in this species is a light pink, but whitish varieta

Social Distancing, Improved Accessibility

The onset of Covid-19 coincided with the release of a new web portal (a “search page”) for the National Shell Museum collection catalog and associated records. Although many states and local governments are re-opening and relaxing limitations on public activities, it is always prudent to limit outings and communal pursuits. So, why not spend some quality time looking at some of our online collection data, including photographs? At this point, about 1,900 collection lots include image attachments

Shell of the Week: The Elegant Dosinia

Dosinia concentrica (Born, 1778) is yet another member of the diverse venus clam family, the Veneridae. Its shell reaches 70 mm (about 2.75 inches) and its characterized by a circular shape, glossy surface, and about 8–10 commarginal ridges per centimeter (or 20–24 per inch). The color is pure white. Do not confuse with the also locally present Disk Dosinia, Dosinia discus, which has much narrower ridges that are twice as numerous.#dosiniaconcentrica #elegantdosinia #veneridae #venusclam #commar

Search our Collection… Remotely!

I am glad to inform that a web portal is now available for remote searches in the catalog of our research collection of mollusks. One of the largest of its kind in the United States, the Museum's collection provides taxonomic, geographic, and temporal data on marine, terrestrial, and freshwater mollusks to a broad range of users in zoology, marine biology, genetics, conservation, geology, and other fields. The collection currently includes about 129,500 lots, and its catalog was recently transfe

An Exquisite Land Snail

In a paper published posthumously in the April 2020 issue of the National Shell Museum’s scientific journal, The Nautilus, Dr. G. Thomas Watters from the Museum of Biological Diversity at Ohio State University in Columbus, and his collaborators, named the new species Rolleia simonaikeni, a half-an-inch wide, attractive land snail from the Dominican Republic. The species was named after Simon Aiken, from the UK, who collected some of the specimens in the study. Dr. Watters had studied the land sn

Shell of the Week: The Striate Nassa

Nassarius consensus (Ravenel, 1861) is one of the few, shallow-water local members of the nassa family, the Nassariidae. A more common species in that group is the Bruised Nassa, Phrontis vibex. The Striate Nassa may grow to 15 mm (about 0.6 inch), and its shell is thick-walled, with about five whorls. The shell sculpture consists of about 8–10 axial ribs that are round in cross-section and crossed by fine spiral threads. The aperture (opening) is thick, with several denticles on its inner surfa