Shells

Shell of the Week: The Thick Lucine

At up to 60 mm (about 2.4 inch), Phacoides pectinatus (Gmelin, 1791) is one of the largest local members of the family Lucinidae. Its shell outline is circular, with a squarish, truncated posterior end (on left of the photos.) The shell surface is chalky, and the external sculpture consists of coarse, irregular ridges. The thin, brownish periostracum (external, brownish layer) is present in well-preserved shells. The color is white, and sometimes the internal surface of the shell is suffused wi

The Telltale Tulip

In 2015, noted British malacologist, historian of science, and author S. Peter Dance wrote a one-page article in the Pallidula, the magazine of the British Shell Collector’s Club, about a conversation we had many years before. Our exchange was based on an unusual Tulip shell, one on which the obviously unintentional distribution of shell pigments by the snail produced the image of a “man’s face.” Is the face that of Peter Dance himself or Edgar Allan Poe’s? Judge for yourself: enjoy Peter’s arti

Collection Informs Science

Last week, Drs. Greg Herbert (University of South Florida, USF) and Stephen Geiger (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, FWC), together with USF graduate students Stephen Hesterberg and Nicole Seiden, visited the Museum collection to study Horse Conch, Triplofusus giganteus, shells. Their research project includes taking measurements of and sampling material from a large number of Horse Conch shells, using methods that will ultimately allow them to estimate growth rates and longevi

Tucker Abbott’s “Seashells” in Braille!

Last September 28 marked the 100th birthday of the Museum’s Founding Director, Robert Tucker Abbott. Tucker Abbott was certainly the most prolific author of shell and mollusk-related books that ever lived, having published more than 30 books on the subject. Some of his most popular works such as Seashells of the World (1962) and Kingdom of Seashells (1972) have been in print since their original publication and were translated into many languages. Tucker Abbott’s daughter Cynthia Sullivan rec

Decoding Shells with Atlas Obscura

Are you familiar with the cool online resource Atlas Obscura, “the definitive guide to the world’s hidden wonders?” A few weeks ago, Atlas Obscura published an article, penned by Jessica Leigh Hester, on how to “read” shells and bring some sleuthing into your beachcombing experience. In the article, I shared the opportunity to chat about mollusks with my colleague Suzanne Williams, from the Natural History Museum in London. Read the article here.

The Properties of Fossil Cephalopod Shells

Among the 800+ species of modern cephalopods, only the five Nautilus species have external shells. But, in the distant geological past, most cephalopods had heavy, large, chambered shells that, like the Nautilus shells, allowed them to regulate their buoyancy and orientation in the water. David J. Peterman of Wright State University and his collaborators recently published a comprehensive article in Palaeontologia Electronica suggesting that distinct groups of long-extinct cephalopods differed

Little Shells, Little Boxes!

I recently found these little 1.5-inch boxes among old collection materials here at the Museum. The little cardboard containers in the photo, resembling miniature hat boxes, held shells donated to the Museum in the late 1990s by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History). During the process of establishing the Museum collection, our Founding Director Robert Tucker Abbott (who had been an Assistant Curator at the Smithsonian), negotiated the donation of a large number of d

Now What, Broken Shells?

Not quite... The photo shows two Alphabet Cone (Conus spurius Gmelin, 1791) shells that have been clipped by predators, most likely Stone or Flame crabs. The resulting gashes reveal that parts of the earlier whorls located inside the shell have disappeared. In each shell only the columella, or central pillar, was left behind. Most likely, dissolution of the inner parts in these shells was not a result from the crabs’ fondness for molluscan meals. Some cone snails, along with other gastropods, a