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.

Florida United Malacologists 2022, a Big Success!

After a couple of years of cancellations and postponements, it was fantastic to have Florida United Malacologists (FUM) back at the Museum! We had record attendance for FUM last Saturday, with about 90 participants and 18 presentations! FUM is a one-day gathering that brings together researchers, collectors, citizen scientists, enthusiasts, and students interested in a broad range of mollusk-related topics. This year’s meeting included a wide range of topics and a relatively large number of stu

Shell of the Week: The Alabaster Jewelbox

Amphichama inezae (F.M. Bayer, 1943) reaches about 20 mm (0.8 inch), and has a circular to oval shell with thin, erect, ruffled, commarginal (“concentric”) lamellae present on both valves. The inside areas of the Alabaster Jewelbox shell margins are smooth. The color varies from alabaster to yellowish white. #amphichamainezae #alabasterjewelbox #chamidae #westpalmbeach

Shell of the Week: The Rose Corbula

Caryocorbula contracta (Say, 1822) reaches 10 mm (0.4 inch), has an inequivalve shell (the left and right valves have different sizes). The shell has a pointed posterior region, a well-defined radial fold or ridge is present, sculpture of smooth commarginal ridges, and the shell color is white to light gray. Internally often pinkish, orangish, or yellowish hues. The shell in the image is a single articulated pair, part of a larger collection of loose valves of the same species found by Ken Piech

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

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 Caribbean Corbula

Caryocorbula swiftiana C.B. Adams, 1852 has a strongly inequivalve shell (the left and right valves have different sizes). The shell has pointed posterior region that is often extended by calcified periostracum, a radial fold or ridge is present, sculpture of irregular commarginal ridges, shell color white to light gray. Internally often whitish, or with brownish, orangish, or yellowish hues. The shell in the image is a single articulated pair, part of a larger collection of loose valves of the

Shell of the Week: The Three-ridge Lucine

Cavilinga blanda (Dall, 1901), is one of the smallest lucines one can find on the beaches of Southwest Florida. Its whitish shell is oblique-oval and “taller” than “wide”, with a fine sculpture of commarginal (“concentric”) lines. The left valve (detail below) exhibits a small (about 0.7 mm, or 0.03 inch) drill hole, probably done by a moon snail (family Naticidae). The neat, smooth-sided drill hole penetrated the external (whiter color), then the internal (grayish color) shell layers.

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 of the Week: The Beaded Sundial

Heliacus bisulcatus (d’Orbigny, 1842), is a marine snail of the sundial family Architectonicidae. that may reach about 12 mm (about 0.5 inch) in diameter. The characteristic, donut-shaped shell has a flattened spire and a sculpture of five rows of squarish beads per whorl. The shell periphery (the “outer rim” of the shell) has two prominent rows of beads. The umbilicus is wide and deep. Color is brown to dull-cream. The species has a very broad distribution from North Carolina to Florida and the

An Alluring Larva!

A couple of weeks ago, underwater photographer Linda Ianiello posted a couple of images in Facebook’s Blackwater Photo Group asking for help with the identification of a veliger larva of a gastropod that she recently photographed in one of her "blackwater" dives*. Veliger larvae are typical of mollusks, and characteristically have the doubled-up, long, paired expansions called velar lobes. Those expansions allow the larvae to move daintily in the water, and bear tiny hair-like cilia that create