Shells

The Southern Flatcoil Snail

Polygyra cereolus (Mühlfeld, 1816), reaches at most 18 mm (about 0.7 inch). The species is found in Florida and other parts of the southeastern US. As the name implies, flatcoil snails have "flat" shells with a relatively large number of tightly coiled whorls. The shell opening bears a characteristic tooth-like projection (see below). The great photo above of a living snail was recently taken by Lorin Buckner in Fort Myers, Florida.#polygyracereolus #southernflatcoil #polygyridae #fortmyers #lan

An Invasive Mollusk Makes Headway in the Caribbean: Where Next?

For the last few months, internet resources such as iNaturalist, have reported on the presence and relatively quick proliferation of a non-indigenous mollusk, the Thrush Cowrie, (Naria turdus), in the greater Caribbean region. The Thrush Cowrie reaches about 38 mm (1.5 inches). Its shell color pattern includes brown spots on the lighter-colored background of the dorsal shell surface. The species name turdus means thrush and derives from a perceived similarity between the color pattern of shell a

An Age-old Mystery Solved

This week, Dr Greg Herbert (University of South Florida, Tampa) and collaborators published a much-awaited peer-reviewed article on the lifespan of the Horse Conch, Triplofusus giganteus. They also estimated age at which females of the species produce their first spawn. In their study, the authors used stable oxygen and carbon isotopes sclerochronology (the dating of hard biological structures such as bones, corals, and shells) to garner information on life cycles. Among other samples, included

What Perch on Branches, Have Wings But Do Not Fly?

As the image shows, this branching colony of a Regal Sea Fan, Leptogorgia hebes, was host to at least eleven Atlantic Wing Oysters, Pteria colymbus. Wing oysters get their common name from the wing-like expansions on their shells, also known as "auricles". Atlantic Wing Oysters are commonly found living in association with sea fans, sea whips, and other gorgonians, attaching to them via byssal threads. The byssal threads of Atlantic Wing Oysters wrap strongly around the stems and branches of sea

Shell of the Week: The Bicolor Purse Oyster

The Bicolor Purse Oyster, Isognomon bicolor (C.B. Adams, 1852), has an oval, very flat shell, with thin-walled valves and coarse, wavy, blade-like lamellae. The shell can reach 40 mm (about 1.6 inches.) Internally the shell has a small nacreous area, the non-nacreous area is wide, and the hinge in juvenile shells has a set of ridge-like teeth. This species is known to grow on rocks and hard structures in many areas of the Florida Keys. The complete shell in the illustration was collected by Kimb

CT Scans of Shells and Mollusks

A recent activity we have been pursuing at the Museum is the acquisition and processing of computerized tomography scans (CT scans) of shells from our collection. CT scans combine a series of X-ray images, using dedicated computer software, to create three-dimensional and cross-sectional images (slices) of objects. CT scans have been used in medicine and industry for decades, but were only recently adopted in the study of invertebrates. The impromptu project has been developed in association wit

Shell Music

Did you know that shells have been used for centuries as musical instruments? “There is no society without song, and there is no ritual or celebrations without accompanying sounds,” state the authors of an article published last year in ScienceAdvances (link below). In the article, C. Fritz and collaborators researched the oldest use of a shell as an instrument. Shells were among the first natural objects that lent themselves to use as instruments capable of producing variable sounds; in their a

Shell of the Week: The Paz Murex

Paziella pazi (Crosse, 1869) reaches 47 mm (about 1.9 inches), and is a very attractive species among a family known for cool-looking shells, the Muricidae. The species is found in moderately deep water in the Gulf of Mexico, East Coast of Florida and the Keys, Bahamas, and the northern Caribbean Sea. Paz’s Murex shells have a typical sculpture of about 4–6 long spines per whorl, The spines are very “open,” in some case deployed almost perpendicularly to the whorls. #paziellapazi #pazmurex #muri

The Flat Mollusks Society

When walking the local beaches, National Shell Museum staff and local enthusiasts are always on the lookout for shells that are distorted, clipped, or bored by predators, shells with attached creatures, and any other molluscan oddities that may catch their fancy. A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Mike Reardon, who volunteers in the Museum collection, picked up a large fragment of a Sawtooth Pen Shell with several dead, dry mollusks attached (see photo). Among those were barnacles, Black-foot Slipper Sn

An Eye-catching Conch

The large gastropods from the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico traditionally played major roles in Meso American and Mexican cultures. This shell of a Queen Conch, Aliger gigas, is a replica of similarly decorated shells from ancient cultural areas around Mexico City. The shell is covered with a mosaic of obsidian, lapis-lazuli, and other stones, and its apex, or shell tip, has been sawed off, so the shell could be used as a "trumpet" or "horn". Photographed in Teotihuacan, Mexico, in 2014.