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.

Fabio Moretzsohn: 1964-2020

As some of you may already know, this week we lost a friend and well-known malacologist at the peak of his productive scientific and educational career. On Monday, January 6, 2020, Dr. Fabio Moretzsohn passed away, of complications from lung cancer. Fabio received his B.S. in Biology in 1987 from the University of São Paulo, in Brazil. In 1993, he received his M.S. in Biology from the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, and in 2003 was awarded his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of

A Tumbling Snail

Most mollusk species are known only from their shell. But a peek at a beautiful shell can hardly reveal the life habits of the mollusk that made it. Take, for instance, the snail known as Gaza daedala Watson, 1879, a deep-sea species of gastropod from the South and Central Pacific. Reaching about 40 mm (about 1.5 inch), its attractive shell is smooth, iridescent, with delicate pearly hues, resembling the internal layers of abalones, pen shells, and some mussels. The species was named in 1879 by

The Photogenic Wonderpus

Despite its striking (and very unusual) appearance, the Wunderpus Octopus was only described as a species new to science in 2006. Wunderpus photogenicus Hochberg, Norman, & Finn, 2006 have a typical coloration of white band-like markings over a reddish-brown background, but no two individuals show exactly the same pattern. In addition to the distinctive coloration, Wonderpus Octopuses have very long, slender arms and eyes at the end of elongated stalks that protrude from the mantle. They are mas

Shell of the Week: The Tampa Drill

Eupleura tampaensis (Conrad, 1846), reaches about 25 mm (an inch) and has a markedly angled shell outline, with a sculpture of about 12 strong axial (“vertical”) ribs crossed by equally strong spiral cords. Could be confused with two species of similar size and proportions: the Mauve-mouth Drill, Calotrophon ostrearum, which has a more rounded, “gentler,” not-angled outline and sculpture of axial ribs that are larger than the spiral cords, or the Gulf Oyster Drill, Vokesinotus perrugatus, which

Telltale Shell Parts: The Pallial Sinus

The pallial sinus is an etched “bent line” present on the inside of some bivalve shells, at their posterior end. The sinus is a continuation of the pallial line, a scar that indicates the limit of the bivalve body that is attached internally to its shell. The pallial sinus corresponds to a "pouch" in the animal body that houses the siphons when they are retracted. The siphons are fleshy tubes that can be expanded for the intake and outtake of water for respiration and feeding. Usually, bivalves

Shell of the Week: The Velie Marginella

Prunum succineum (Conrad 1846), reaches about 14 mm (a little more than 0.5 inch) and, like its more common relative, the Common Atlantic Marginella, Prunum apicinum, has a very glossy shell that is probably translucent in the living snail. It differs from the Common Atlantic Marginella by its slimmer shape and more pointed spire. The image includes the original label from the Brumbach collection, indicating that the shell was collected on the “shore of Pine Island Sound, Captiva Island… In dead

The Sturdy Chiton Girdle

Once again, mollusks have taken center stage in the research discipline of Biomimetics, also known as Bioinspiration. Biomimetics is a branch of engineering that derives design ideas and inspiration from special structures, materials, and substances in animals and plants. Matthews Connors of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues described, in a recent issue of Nature Communications, the engineering and material properties of the girdle and girdle scales in the chiton Rhiss

Boring In, Climbing Up

The free-living larva of a Mahogany Date Mussel, Leiosolenus bisulcatus (d’Orbigny, 1853), will settle on a shell or coral colony, and will bore into it away from the surface until it reaches its mature, maximum size; there it will remain until the end of its days. Mahogany Date Mussels bore by dissolving calcium carbonate using a special boring gland present in the mantle. They are also capable of coating the internal surface of their boreholes using a special lining secreted by the mantle. The

Shell of the Week: The Florida Lucine

Another local member of the widespread family Lucinidae, Stewartia floridana (Conrad, 1833) grows to about 28 mm (about 1.1 inch). The shell outline is circular, with a squarish, truncated posterior end. The shell surface is smooth, and the external sculpture consists of coarse, irregular growth lines. The thin, brownish periostracum (external, brownish layer) is present in well-preserved shells. Commonly found on the back-bay areas of Sanibel and Captiva. #lucinidae #floridalucine #stewartiaf

Scorched Rainforest Snails?

While rummaging through my old 35 mm film slides (does anyone still remember them?), I found one I shot in August 1980 during an expedition sponsored by the Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro) to the Brazilian state of Pará, in the eastern Amazon Region. The slide shows a small (about half an inch) snail in the family Streptaxidae, genus Streptartemon, crawling on the rainforest litter, and flanked by two small white mushrooms. Most streptaxid snails are carnivorous, having evolved to eat other land