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.

Meanwhile, out in the Gulf of Mexico…

The weather may be lousy, the seas may be rough, but, to me, nothing compares to working aboard a ship doing field research on marine mollusks, sharing the findings with others, and learning from the experience. And this is what I did for four days last week, joining a short cruise led by Dr. Greg Herbert (University of South Florida, Tampa) to the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, mostly following a track (or transect) due southwest of Carrabelle, Florida. For more than ten years, Dr. Herbert has be

Shell of the Week: The Flat Tree Oyster

Not a true oyster, Isognomon alatus (Gmelin, 1791) is a rare find along the coast of Southwest Florida, with very few examples from our immediate area present in the larger American museum collections. The species is common in the Tampa Bay area and along the east coast of Florida. There are a couple of holdings in our collection from Marco Island, but only recently we confirmed the presence of the species in Lee County. Lorin Buckner found and photographed a couple of Flat Tree Oysters near San

Shell of the Week: The Banded Transennella

Transennella stimpsoni Dall, 1902 reaches 14 mm in length. The rounded-trigonal shell is smooth except for very low commarginal (“concentric”) ridges. The shell color is usually white, often with brown or violet chevron-like markings, internally infused with purple. The outer shell layer, or periostracum, is varnish-like, yellowish. Compare with the locally occurring Transennella conradina, which is more pointed posteriorly and lacks the purple color. Also known as Stimpson's Transennella. This

The Locally Elusive Flat Tree Oyster

For years I’ve been searching for signs of the Flat Tree Oyster in our area. Not a true oyster, Isognomon alatus (Gmelin, 1791) is a rare find along the coast of Southwest Florida, with very few examples present (single digits) among the larger American museum collections. The species is found throughout the Caribbean, the Keys, and the East Coast of Florida. There are a couple of holdings in our collection from Marco Island, but only recently we confirmed the presence of the species in Lee Coun

Shell of the Week: The Hairy Triton

Monoplex pilearis (Linnaeus, 1758) is a relatively common tropical western Atlantic species that is also present in the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans, including Polynesia and Hawaii. Hairy Tritons may reach 140 mm (5.5 inches) in some parts of its distribution. The long-lasting pelagic (open-water) larvae in the species allow for ocean crossing at the larval stage, one of the reasons for its broad geographical distribution. You can see the larval shell preserved as the protoconch (at the ap

Shell of the Week: The Amber Pen Shell

This week marks the 400th Shell of the Week in the Island Sun! The Amber Pen Shell, Pinna carnea Gmelin, 1791, inhabits the warm waters of the Caribbean, Florida Keys, and the East Coast of Florida. Shells in this species may reach 30 cm (about 12 inches) in length. The “top” shell edges of the living pen shell are slightly flexible, but become hard and brittle after the animal dies. Pen shells typically live buried in sandy, shallow-water areas of tropical and sub-tropical oceans, attached to a

An Inspirational Shell Book

The Museum’s Founding Director, Robert 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. A couple of years ago Tucker’s daughter Cynthia Sullivan donated a small collection of some of his more obscu

Shell of the Week: The Scaly Scallop

Caribachlamys sentis (Reeve, 1853) is a shallow-water scallop (family Pectinidae) that may reach about 45 mm (about 1.8 inch). The shell is fan-shaped, with one auricle (the “little ear”) much larger than other, the left valve is reddish to brown, evenly colored, right valve of roughly the same color. The basic sculpture pattern includes about 18, regularly spaced, radial ribs. The species is present in South Florida, Florida Keys, Caribbean down to South America. (A large reproduction of this i

Shell of the Week: The Atlantic Trumpet Triton

Charonia variegata (Lamarck, 1816) is one of the largest gastropods found in the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic Trumpet Tritons can be found from North Carolina to Brazil, and feed on, among other large sea stars, the red cushion sea star Oreaster reticulatus. The Museum displays the world record-size shell of this species, a shell measuring 388 mm (about 16 inches), collected off Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil. (A large reproduction of this illustration is on display in the In Focus exhibition at t

Shell of the Week: The Magnum Prickly Cockle

Acrosterigma magnum (Linnaeus, 1758) reaches about 50 mm (about 2 inches). This is one of the largest and more impressive species of the cockle family Cardiidae found in the western central Atlantic. The species is found in Florida, the Florida Keys, the Caribbean, northern South America, and in parts of the Gulf of Mexico (but not on the beaches of Southwest Florida.) The Magnum Prickly Cockle is notable for the delicate hues and smooth surface on the sculpture of radial ribs. (A large reproduc