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.

Zip-up That Mantle Edge!

Pen shells anchor themselves to the sandy bottom using a bundle of silky fibers called a byssus. The bivalve is buried with the shorter side of its triangular shell oriented upward, the pointy end down. The Stiff Pen Shell in the images below, Atrina rigida (Lightfoot, 1786), may be found in large quantities on the beaches of Southwest Florida during winter months, when storm waves pull the living bivalves from the bottom. The photos on the right show a living Stiff Pen Shell viewed from above.

The Three-ridged Lucine

Measuring about 7 mm (about 0.28 inch), Cavilinga blanda (Dall, 1901) is another small local member of the family Lucinidae. The outline of its shell is oval, but skewed to one side, with the shell beak pointing in an anterior direction. The shell color is white, its surface is glossy, bearing a sculpture of regular commarginal lines. The internal lining of the valves is sometimes “delaminated,” flaking off. Not commonly found, possibly because of its small size. The shell illustrated was collec

The Telltale Tulip

In 2015, noted British malacologist, historian of science, and author S. Peter Dance wrote a one-page article in the Pallidula, the magazine of the British Shell Collector’s Club, about a conversation we had many years before. Our exchange was based on an unusual Tulip shell, one on which the obviously unintentional distribution of shell pigments by the snail produced the image of a “man’s face.” Is the face that of Peter Dance himself or Edgar Allan Poe’s? Judge for yourself: enjoy Peter’s arti

Collection Informs Science

Last week, Drs. Greg Herbert (University of South Florida, USF) and Stephen Geiger (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, FWC), together with USF graduate students Stephen Hesterberg and Nicole Seiden, visited the Museum collection to study Horse Conch, Triplofusus giganteus, shells. Their research project includes taking measurements of and sampling material from a large number of Horse Conch shells, using methods that will ultimately allow them to estimate growth rates and longevi

The Octopus Garden

Imagine a large “nursery” of more than a thousand brooding female octopuses assembling in a relatively small area. That is the Octopus Garden, located off the central coast of California. Muusoctopus robustus measures around 380 mm (about 15 inches) in size and was first named in 1990 by Gilbert L. Voss* (University of Miami) and William G. Pearcy (Oregon State University). Back then, scientists had no idea that some deep-sea octopuses could actually spawn together, then proceed to take care of

Shell of the Week: The Many-lined Lucine

At about 6 mm (about 0.24 inch), Parvilucina crenella (Dall, 1901) is one of the smallest local members of the family Lucinidae. Its shell is small, with a delicate sculpture of sculpture of narrow ribs superimposed by commarginal (“concentric”) threads of about the same width as the ribs. The internal margin of valves is crenulated (“wavy”). Shell color is white. This species was in the past known as “Lucina multilineata”. Not commonly found, possibly because of its small size. #parvilucinaten

Shell of the Week: The Carolina Marsh Clam

Polymesoda caroliniana Bosc, 1801 may grow to 50 mm (about 2 inches.) Its shell is oval, with a sculpture of fine commarginal (“concentric”) ridges. The shell color is brown. It differs from the Southern Marsh Clam, Polymesoda floridana, by having a more rounded shell with truncated posterior end (left end of leftmost views on photo). This is a truly brackish water species, inhabiting the upper reaches of local estuaries (the shell illustrated was collected in the Caloosahatchee River near dow

A Stunning Sea Slug

Photographed by Scott Johnson at Batuniti, near Tulamben, in Bali, on November 4, 2019, this large (about 10 cm, or 4 inches) sea slug Phyllodesmium iriomotense Baba, 1991 contrasts sharply with the dark, mucky, volcanic sand around it. The species is known to feed on octocorals, coral relatives in which the polyps have eight (octo = eight) branching tentacles. Phyllodesmium iriomotense was named by Japanese malacologist Kikutaro Baba (1905–2001) after the type locality for the species, Iriomote

Super-Hero Among Mollusks

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about Lightfoot, 1786, the Venus Comb Murex? If you like shells and mollusks, you probably know it as one of the most elegant and celebrated species in the history of shell collecting. Venus Comb Murexes are not very rare where they live: a large area that includes the Indo-West Pacific oceans, from East Africa to eastern Melanesia. References to the species abound in the literature and on the web. They have a striking appearance, with long, harmoniou

A Coat of Sharp Spines

A species that need no introduction, Venus Comb Murex are predators, eating other mollusks (see previous blog entry on the species.) In turn, they can be food for large bottom-feeding fish such as stingrays and some sharks. Their sharp, long spines, however, may ward off those large predators. They also surround the snail's head and foot when the animal is moving or active, forming a "cage" around the snail that may help prevent other predators, such as small crabs, from approaching. In mollusks