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 Florida Vitrinella

Vitrinella floridana Pilsbry & McGinty, 1946 is a very small species of the family Tornidae, that barely reaches 2 mm (about 0.8 inch) in diameter. The shell is smooth, totaling only about 3.5 whorls, with an open umbilicus, and the callus is absent. The shell is compressed, with the apex projecting only slightly, the whorl profile rounded, and the aperture oblique. The shell color in the Florida Vitrinella is translucent-white. The shell illustrated was collected in 2002 by Lois Dunnam at Gulf

Scallops Have Charming Eyes

One of the presentations that caught my fancy during the World Congress of Malacology last week, in Pacific Grove, California, was given by Daniel Speiser from University of South Carolina. Speiser spoke about the eyes of scallops, focusing (pardon the pun) on the Atlantic Bay Scallop, Argopecten irradians, and the Atlantic Sea Scallop, Placopecten magellanicus. Scallops have a large number of small eyes deployed along the edges of their shells; Atlantic Bay Scallops have eyes of a brilliant blu

World Congress of Malacology 2019

WCM 2019 took place in Pacific Grove, California, from August 11­–16. The event was a great success, with a large number of presentations spanning four concurrent sessions in four days, and one day for field trips. I represented the Museum, presenting a poster co-authored with Digital Imaging Specialists James Kelly and Patricia Starkey. The poster summarizes the work being done at the Museum under our Digital Imaging Project. Click here to read more and enjoy the poster.

Zombie Snails!

In the past few days, the online media has been abuzz with a renewed appreciation for the strange parasitism of the worm known as Green-banded Broodsac (Leucochloridium paradoxum) on European Amber Snails (genus Succinea). Green-banded Broodsacs invade eyestalks (also known as tentacles) of snails after growing inside the victims’ bodies. Often, both eyestalks become occupied. Once inside the eyestalk, a worm starts a “dance,” pulsating back and forth. The worms' motion and color pattern make it

Shell of the Week – The Hidden-spire Vitrinella

This species is actually the Hidden-spire Vitrinella, Teinostoma cryptospira (A.E. Verrrill, 1884), not the Trifle Vitrinella, Teinostoma lerema, as identified in the original posting. At 2 mm (0.08 inch) maximum size, the Hidden-spire Vitrinella is one of the smallest members of the family Tornidae in Florida. The suture (line where two successive whorls join) in this species is not very visible, not forming a distinct line on the shell surface. The shell surface is smooth, the aperture round

Welcome New Museum Staff!

In preparation for the Winter season and opening of the renovated Museum, two new team members are already hard at work. Environmental Educator Tony Gynac graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor's Degree in Marine Biology. Her love of the water has always captured her attention and pushed her towards conservation. She has spent time honing her skills in education and conservation as an intern at the Marine Education, Research, and Rehabilitation Institute and is a volunteer wit

Shell of the Week: High-spired Vitrinella

Teinostoma altum Pilsbry, 1953, is another member of the microgastropod family Tornidae with ample distribution in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. Shell size up to 2.2 mm (about 0.09 inch) in diameter. As the scientific and common names of the species indicate, the shell has a tall spire, resembling a miniature moon snail (family Naticidae). The shell lacks any sculpture except for microscopic growth lines. The protoconch sunken within the remainder of the shell. The umbilicus is shallow. Full

A Hardy Aquatic Snail

The Bladder Snail, Physella acuta (Dreparnaud, 1805) is familiar to freshwater aquarium enthusiasts, as they have the uncanny ability to appear “out of the blue” in their tanks. This is exactly what happened at home last week, when my significant other, Kim Nealon, found several, 1/4-inch long, sinistral (left-handed) snails thriving in our home fish tank. The Bladder Snail, also known as Tadpole Snail or Acute Bladder Snail, is a globally invasive species: the snails have the ability, following

Shell of the Week: The Adams Scale Snail

For the moment, Cochliolepis adamsii (P. Fischer, 1857) is the last in a long series of species of the family Tornidae covered in this column. It is also, in my opinion, one of the more elegant species of that micromollusk family, with its low-profile, disk-shaped shell. The sculpture consists of fine spiral lines, the umbilicus (“hole” on the bottom of the shell) is large, and is not closed by a callus. The aperture is slanted and the outer lip thin. The color is milk-white, opaque. The shell i

World Congress of Malacology 2019

The World Congress of Malacology 2019 will take place from August 11–16 at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California. The California Academy of Sciences is the primary host for the event. WCM 2019 will bring together malacologists from all over the planet, and will be a joint meeting of the world organization for mollusk-related sciences, Unitas Malacologica, together with the American Malacological Society (AMS) and the Western Society of Malacologists (WSM). I will be prese