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.

New Jeweled Top Snails!

Our Aquarium Curator, Rebecca Mensch, just received a number of Jeweled Top Snails, Calliostoma annulatum (Lightfoot, 1786), AKA Purple-Ringed Top Snail, for display. This is a shallow- and cold-water gastropod from the West Coast of North America, found from Baja California, México, to Alaska. Jeweled Top Snails are normally associated with the large fronds of Giant Kelp seaweed Macrocystis pyrifera. This paragraph about the species, quoted from the Monterey Bay Aquarium website, explains its m

Museum Receives Major Grant!

I am glad to report that the Museum received notice of grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for an important collection project. The project, funded via NSF’s Infrastructure for Capacity in Biology core program, is titled “Collaborative Research: Mobilizing Millions of Marine Mollusks of the Eastern Seaboard.” A consortium of fifteen collections* in the US was formed to improve on data and accessibility for about 3,000 species (over 4.5 million individual specimens) of marine

Shell of the Week: The Little Oat Marginella

Measuring up to 9 mm (about 0.35 inch), the Little Oat Marginella, Prunum bellulum (Dall, 1890) is a relatively common shallow-water species in the Caribbean and the tropical western Atlantic. The species has a relatively elongate shell, with the spire comprising about 1/7 of shell length. The aperture arrows posteriorly (“up” in the images), and the columella bears four folds, or plicae. The color is grayish- to blueish-white, and the shell surface in fresh or living specimens is smooth, glossy

Striking Open-coiled Snails

The Exquisite False Dial, Spirolaxis centrifuga (Monterosato, 1890) is a delicate and truly attractive species of the sundial snail family Architectonicidae. The species lives in the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean, reaching about 5 mm* in diameter.As the photo above shows, the Exquisite False Dial shell is normally open-coiled, with successive whorls** not touching each other, yet maintaining regular, proportional distances from the adjacent whorls. Other gastropods with open-coiling are, f

More Additions to Collection Catalog Portal

Once again, a reminder about our collection catalog and its web portal, which allows you to search for our collection records online. The web portal, or online interface, now includes 2,225 composite images of mollusks and shells from Florida and the Bahamas. The Museum’s Digital Imaging Project is funded through a 2-year grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, under its Museums for America initiative.The acquisition, posting, and archival of images follows the latest standards

Museum Collections and Future Pandemics

A recent article in the online World Economic Forum highlights the importance of natural history collections for the analyses, prediction, and preparation for future pandemics. Population growth and the easy nature of international and domestic travel facilitate the outbreaks and spread of viral diseases, which in many cases originate from micro-organisms associated with wildlife. Collections preserve specimens of animals and other organisms, and those specimens ultimately reflect the diversity

Shell of the Week: The Atlantic Rangia

Measuring up to 50 mm (about 2 inches), Rangia cuneata (G.B. Sowerby I, 1832) (also known as Gulf Wedge Clam) is a brackish water bivalve native to the Gulf of Mexico. The shell is heavy, whitish, and normally covered with a thick brown periostracum. As with most species of the family Mactridae, the ligament is internal. Capable of withstanding very low water salinities, the species has invaded estuaries of the East Coast of the US and northern Europe. The species is found locally in the Caloosa

Shell of the Week: The Santo Domingo Carditid

Glans domingensis (d’Orbigny, 1853) is a small clam that grows to about 6 mm (0.24 inch). The shell is squarish, with sharp, beaded radial ribs, and the shell margin is strongly notched, crenulated. The shell color is white with small, faint pink or orange spots. Do not confuse this species with the juveniles of its more common relative, the Broad-ribbed Carditid, Cardites floridanus. These latter are narrower, with the shell “beak” displaced to one of the sides. (In the figure, the inside of th

Shell of the Week: The Spiny Piddock

Jouannetia quillingi Turner, 1955 is a member of the family Pholadidae, a group that also includes the Angel Wing (Cyrtopleura costata), and piddock species of the genus Martesia. The shell measures up to 18 mm (3/4 inch), and the left and right valves differ from each other in this species, with concentric ribs stronger on the right valve. This species is rare in shallow water, preferring to bore into rocky or coral-related offshore bottoms. The presence of special mantle glands in this species

Endangered Cuban Painted Snails

A recent feature in National Geographic online discusses the threats and pressures affecting the six species of Cuban land snail of the genus Polymita, commonly known as “painted snails." These species are arboreal (trees dwellers), and endemic (living only in that area) to Cuba. Many of their local populations were destroyed, initially by deforestation for agricultural uses, and are endangered by predation by invasive species and climate change. And their intrinsic beauty makes them serious can