Curator’s Corner

Museum, research, and collection updates from Dr. José H. Leal, plus Shell of the Week, which highlights a different species every other Friday. Most Shells of the Week are found in Southwest Florida.

Dr. José H. Leal serves as the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium’s Science Director and Curator. He received his Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries from the University of Miami and has served at the Museum since 1996.

Shell of the Week: The Giant Date Mussel

Lithophaga antillarum(d’Orbigny, 1853) reaches 120 mm (about 4.7 inches). The shell is cylindrical, rounded anteriorly, inflated, with brownish, lustrous periostracum (outer shell layer). Giant Date Mussels bore into dead coral or limestone rock. Lithophaga antillarum has a broad distribution in the Gulf of Mexico and the tropical western Atlantic, from the Florida Keys to Brazil, but is not found locally in SW Florida. Given its life habits, this is a difficult species to observe or collect, as

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

That Dark Spot in the Eastern Oyster

If you look inside the valve (half-shell) of an Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea virginica, you'll see a large, dark spot (arrows) “engraved” on each half-shell, or valve. That spot is known as a muscle scar, and marks the place where the adductor muscle of the living animal attaches to the inside of each valve. The adductor muscles are used by bivalves such as oysters and clams to close their shells, and to keep them closed for long periods of time. The adductor muscle in oysters is divided into a “

Shell of the Week: The Intermediate Cyphoma

Cyphoma intermedium(G.B. Sowerby I, 1828) reaches about 35 mm (about 1.4 inches). The shell shape is elongate-oval, usually white when found dead, but fresh specimens have orangish shell tinges. Unlike other species in the genus found locally (the Fingerprint Cyphoma, Cyphoma signatum, and McGinty Cyphoma, Cyphoma mcgintyi), the dorsal ridge on the Intermediate Cyphoma is very weak or absent. The columellar fold is pronounced anteriorly and posteriorly. At least one shell of this species was fou

Shell of the Week: The Fingerprint Cyphoma

Cyphoma signatumPilsbry and McGinty, 1939 reaches about 40 mm. The elongate shell has blunt ends, Color buff with faint pinkish-orange tinges above and below the whitish dorsal ridge (the transversal “swelling” on the back of the shell.) The mantle of the living snail has elongated black markings set on a yellowish background, the resulting pattern resembling fingerprints. The shell differs from Cyphoma intermedium by more elongate shape, heavier, well-defined dorsal ridge and resulting calluses

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

Shell of the Week: The Biconic Top Turrid

Brachycythara biconica (C.B. Adams, 1850) reaches about 6 mm (about 0.25 inch). As the name implies, the shell is shaped like a double cone. The shell is sculptured with about 13–17 axial (“vertical”) ribs per whorl, and is entirely covered with interrupted micro-grooves that impart a “frosted” appearance to the shell. The shell color is cream-white, with a broad light-brown band at mid-whorl and another, narrower, just below the suture. The shell in these images was collected in 1999 by Herb Ch

Blue Dragons on Texas Beaches

Last weekend the national media was abuzz with the news that “venomous blue dragons” that “look like mini-Pokémons” were washing ashore along Texas beaches, including those on Padre Island and near Corpus Christi. Blue Dragons, also known as Blue Glaucus (Glaucus atlanticus), are inch-long, blue and white sea slugs that spend their entire lives in open water, floating upside-down just under the water surface. They are part of the neuston ecosystem, the mysterious ecosystem at the ocean’s surface

Shell of the Week: The Florida Moon Snail

Natica tedbayeri(Rehder, 1986) reaches about 34 mm (1.34 inch), and has a globose shell with thin walls, umbilicus and callus white, umbilicus deep, filled in part by the white, plug-like callus. Color similar to the Colorful Atlantic Natica, but differing by the “simpler” color pattern of wide tan bands on a white background. The bands are bordered by lines of interrupted dark-brown or orange segments. Shell sculpture lacking, except for faint growth lines.#naticatedbayeri #floridamoonsnail #fl

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