Shells

Shell of the Week: The Green Star Snail

Up to this day, for the past seven years I have been covering mostly Sanibel and Captiva mollusks and their shells. Today, I am expanding the “Shell of the Week” column to include species found elsewhere in Florida. Let’s start with the Green Star Snail. Lithopoma tuber (Linnaeus, 1758). The species has a thick, heavy shell that may exceed 75 mm (3 inches), and is covered with a simple sculpture of raised knobs and finely etched, intersecting lines. But the eye-catching feature of this shell is

In Focus Exhibition Opens Tomorrow!

The new exhibition of some 60 high-resolution, large-scale photographs, taken in recent years at the Museum, conveys in compelling detail the richness and unique attributes of the universe of shells and mollusks. It features many species unfamiliar to most collectors and enthusiasts.Organized by Dr. José H. Leal, Science Director and Curator of the National Shell Museum, the selected photographs are part of the Museum’s Digital Imaging Project. Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Servi

Shell of the Week: The Dall Wentletrap Revisited

Cirsotrema dalli Rehder, 1945 can reach more than 30 mm (about 1.2 inches). It has a chalky shell surface with ribs and a background pattern of spiral cords, with about 2-3 thicker ribs per whorl. Species in this genus display an outer shell layer called intritacalx, which easily wears off in older shells. The Dall Wentletrap is more commonly found in deeper water. The species is rarely found on Sanibel and Captiva,#cirsotremadalli #dallwentletrap #epitoniidae #drytortugas #florida

Black Water Beauty

This beautiful image of an Oxygyrus inflatus snail was shot by Simone Matucci off Kailua-Kona, a township on the island of Hawaii. Oxygyrus inflatus snails reach only about 10 mm (0.4 mm) in size, spending their entire lives in open water. They have very large eyes and a single swimming fin. Their transparent and flexible shells are not very calcified. The shells of open-water mollusks are usually very thin, light, but still very strong and resilient. Simone Matucci specializes in black-water ph

Shell of the Week: The Green Mussel

Perna viridis (Linnaeus, 1758) has been accidentally introduced from New Zealand to the East Coast of the USA, part of the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. This species grows to about 90 mm (about 3.5 inches). The ventral (“lower”) margin of the shell is straight or slightly concave, the posterior end rounded. The periostracum may be very flaky in dried shells. The shell is brown externally with green tinges at and around margins. The shell interior is nacreous, whitish or light-purple.#pe

Seeing Eye to Eye!

When I first saw this image, I thought of the famous “mirror scene” in the Marx’s Brothers 1933 movie “Duck Soup,” in which Harpo pretends to be Groucho’s reflection in a non-existent mirror. The routine went on for a few comical minutes, after which Grouch finally realized he was being fooled by the intruding Harpo. But in this great image by Senior Aquarist Carly Hulse we have two of our conchs, a young Queen Conch (Aliger gigas) on the left and a Milk Conch (Macrostrombus costatus) on the rig

The Museum Type Collection, Revealed

In an article published yesterday in the journal Zootaxa, I report on and explain the type specimens of mollusks and shells deposited in our Museum collection. In biology, a type specimen is usually a physical example of an organism (animals, plants, etc.) that was used by a researcher when that species was first formally described and named as new. The two most-often alluded to kinds of types are the holotype, which is the single, or principal, specimen designated in the original description, a

In the Kingdom of Queen Conchs

The Museum has added three Queen Conchs, Aliger gigas (Linnaeus, 1758), to its Beyond Shells educational, living exhibitions. Make sure you take a look at them during your next visit to the Museum! The Queen Conch is an iconic, relatively well-known marine snail in the family of true conchs, the Strombidae (think Florida Fighting Conch, Milk Conch, and many others). At the onset of adulthood, its shell will begin developing the broad, flared lip that is so typical of the species. Queen Conchs ar

Shrinking Conch Shells?

Shells preserved in ancient middens throughout the planet are good evidence that humans have been eating seafood for thousands of years. And our fondness for hooking the largest fish, shucking the largest oysters, and netting that jumbo shrimp has probably been around since time immemorial. To test the hypothesis of whether intense foraging for larger versus smaller individuals of the same species may in the long run drive the species size to decrease, Alexis Sullivan (Penn State University) and

Cultural Pearls

One of the most intriguing entries in the Museum collection is a single valve, or half-shell, of a freshwater Cockscomb Pearl Mussel, Cristaria plicata. Most freshwater bivalves have a hefty, internal layer of nacre on their shells. But in this case, the inside of the valve is embellished with a two-inch tall figurine, a "cultural pearl," or “pearl image,” of a long-bearded Chinese Sage. In historic China, such items were bestowed or sold to pilgrims visiting sacred shrines. In the old days, a p