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.

Shell of the Week: The Beautiful Truncatella

Truncatellas are small marine snails that spend most of their lives away from seawater, living among dead leaves, above the high tide line in mangrove areas. The genus name derives from the truncated shell aspect. One of two species occurring locally in Southwest Florida, the Beautiful Truncatella, Truncatella pulchella Pfeiffer, 1839, grows to 6.5 mm (about 0.25 inch). Its shell is elongate, with up to six rounded whorls, each bearing 17–40 axial (“vertical”) ribs. The color is yellowish to bro

The Fireworm and its Bubble

While diving near the Blue Heron Bridge (Palm Beach County, Florida), underwater photographer and Museum collaborator Anne Dupont, of West Palm Beach, captured this nice image of a Blackline Fireworm (also known as Ornate Fireworm, or Red-tipped Fireworm), Chloeia viridis Schmarda, 1861, eating a Striate Bubble, Bulla occidentalis A. Adams, 1850. The Bubble was most likely dead before the worm started its meal, as Blackline Fireworms are known to be scavengers (carrion feeders). Read more about

The Jaguar and its Conch

As a lover of mollusks and shells, I am always looking for connections of our creatures in the arts, cultures, and history. During a visit to the Teotihuacan Historical Complex near Mexico City a few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the remnants of the Palace of the Jaguars. The Palace houses a prominent mural portraying a Jaguar that apparently is blowing a feathered conch shell, from which blood is dripping. A narrow, curved object dangling from the shell opening suggests the object i

The William C. Brumbach Collection

The scientific collection at the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum houses many thousands of records of Sanibel and Captiva mollusks and shells. This extensive collection subset provides crucial data for environmental, taxonomic, and historical studies of local mollusks. One important component of that regional sample is the collection amassed by William C. Brumbach. Mr. Brumbach, originally from Pennsylvania and later a part-time resident of Sanibel, was an avid naturalist and citizen scient

Shell of the Week: The Stearns Dove Snail

At only 5 mm (about 0.2 in inch) in maximum size, Aesopus stearnsii (Tryon, 1883), is one of the smallest members of the dove snail family Columbellidae found on the beaches of Southwest Florida. Its shell is relatively slender for the family, with the aperture (opening) spanning about 1/3 to ¼ of shell length. The shell sculpture shows very narrow, etched spiral lines. The color is cream color, usually with a faint orange-brown band just below the suture (the line separating two whorls). The ph

Shell of the Week: The Northern Lion Paw

Nodipecten fragosus (Conrad, 1849), is one of the iconic species included in the “most desirable” list of local collectors. In the same way as the famous Junonia, Lion Paws are not uncommon in deeper water offshore, but perfect shells are almost impossible to find in local beaches. The species common name alludes to certain resemblance to a lion’s “hand,” and the qualifier “Northern” distinguishes the North American species from its tropical western Atlantic counterpart, the Southern Lion Paw,

Tucker Abbott’s “Seashells” in Braille!

Last September 28 marked the 100th birthday of the Museum’s Founding Director, Robert Tucker Abbott. 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. Tucker Abbott’s daughter Cynthia Sullivan rec

The Flamboyant Cuttle

Metasepia pfefferi (Hoyle, 1885) is a cuttlefish, or cuttle, found in the eastern Indian and southwestern Pacific oceans. It lives in shallow water from 3 to 85 meters (about 10 to 280 feet) in depth. Cuttles are cephalopod mollusks that have eight arms and two tentacles. As in other cephalopods, one of the arms in male cuttles, called the hectocotylus, is modified to deliver sperm to the female. The arms aid in swimming, but can also be used by the Flamboyant Cuttle to “walk” upright on the bot

Shell of the Week: The White Triphora

Sagenotriphora candidula Rolán & Lee, 2008 is a Floridian species of the family Triphoridae, a group of microgastropod mollusks known to inhabit sponge colonies. Triphorids are almost always left-handed. The 5-mm (about 0.2 inch) White Triphora is characterized by its pure white color and a multispiral (many-whorled), translucent-brown protoconch (larval shell), with a reticulated sculpture on its first whorl. Other features of shell and radula also distinguish this species from its closest rela

Mighty, the Horse Conch

At a maximum size of about 60 cm (24 inches), the Horse Conch, Triplofusus giganteus (Kiener, 1840), is the largest marine snail living in the Atlantic Ocean. Horse Conchs are known to feed on a number of other mollusks, including Lightning Whelks, Tulips, Fighting Conchs, large clams, and others. In this great photo by Amy Tripp, taken at low tide near Kice Island, Florida, a Horse Conch (let’s call it “Mighty”!) is about to pounce on a stranded Lightning Whelk. The Horse Conch’s siphon can be