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.

Cone Snail Ballistics

In addition to producing some of the most potent venoms in nature, cone snails are now known to deliver one of the fastest predatory strikes in the animal kingdom. In a paper recently published online in Current Biology, Joseph R. Schulz from the Occidental College in Los Angeles and his collaborators have shown that the strike by the radular tooth of the fish-hunting Cat Cone, Conus catus, reaches speeds comparable to those of a bullet being fired from a pistol. The entire strike happens in les

Shell of the Week: The Horse Conch

Triplofusus giganteus (Kiener, 1840), one of the most iconic local marine snails, is well know for its very large size. It grows to about 60 cm (24 inches) in length, and is the second largest gastropod in the world, second only to the Australian Trumpet, Syrinx aruanus (Linnaeus, 1758), which reaches 910 mm (36 inches). We are all familiar with the large Horse Conch shells, but very few know how a young Horse Conch shell looks like. In the illustration, I included a 12 mm (about 0.5 inch) young

The Amazing Excalibur Snail

When describing newly discovered species, researchers may choose to name them after people or places, features of the animal (or shell), or to select a term that is reminiscent of a shape or an object, among other alternatives. Gyraxis excalibur is an unusually shaped land snail cleverly named after the sword of King Arthur. The small (reaching only 17 mm, or about 0.7 inch) but very elongate species was first described by G. Thomas (“Tom”) Watters from the Museum of Biological Diversity, Ohio S

Bittersweet Eyes

The Comb Bittersweet, Tucetona pectinata (Gmelin, 1791), is found along the coast of Southwest Florida. Bittersweet clams have numerous, simple eyes that resemble the ommatidia, or the individual units, of insect eyes. They can be seen as tiny dark dots along the mantle edges of the Comb Bittersweet in the photo. Studies on the eyes of bittersweet bivalves (family Glycymeridae) suggest that they can be used to sense approaching predators by sudden changes in light intensity (the “shadow reflex”)

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

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

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

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.

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

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