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.

Tinted Cantharus, Transparent Egg Cases

The Tinted Cantharus, Gemophos tinctus (Conrad, 1846), is a resident of oyster beds in the bays and estuarine areas of the tropical western Atlantic in general and Southwest Florida in particular. That marine gastropod doesn’t invite much attention, probably because of its size, about 25 to 28 mm (about one to 1.5 inch) long, or prosaic shape and coloration. Tinted Cantharus are known to feed on the barnacles that thrive on oyster reefs, using their ribbon of teeth, the radula, to reach through

Argonaut!

In the last issue, I mentioned the great "black-water" photos by Linda Ianniello; for black-water, read drift-diving, in the middle of the night. Still in the subject of black-water photography, here is a nice image of a female Argonaut, Argonauta argo, photographed in the Philippines by Jeff Laity, and used with his permission. Argonauts are surface-dwelling cephalopods related to octopuses. There are four known species, and mature females in all four build protective cases for their eggs. The

A Very Unusual Clam

In 2015, M.G. “Jerry” Harasewych, a research zoologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and Ilya Tëmkin, then a postdoctoral fellow in that institution, named a new species of file clam, Mantellina translucens, a species living in moderately deep-water (around 200–300 m, or about 660–990 ft) off Curaçao, in the southern Caribbean Sea. The species name reflects the translucent nature of is delicate shell, which reaches about 41 mm (about 1.6 inches) in size. Remarkably, pri

Shell of the Week: The Gabb Vitrinella

Solariorbis infracarinatus (Gabb, 1881) is a member of the microgastropod family Tornidae with ample distribution in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, found also along the coast of Southwest Florida. Larger shells of the species reach only about 2.0 mm (about 0.08 inch). The shell has a low spire, and the shell periphery (outer shell “edge”) bears a strong spiral keel. The shell base has about 4–5 spiral ribs, but the spire itself lacks any major, visible sculpture. The protoconch projects above

A Radical Radula

Frightened yet? Gastropods and other mollusks use an organ called radula to initiate feeding. Using the radula, which consists of rows of hardened teeth, different kinds of mollusks can scrape food, graze on microalgae, or drill holes into a bivalve shell in preparation for a fresh clam meal! Cone snails use their radular teeth as “hypodermic harpoons” to inject potent cocktails of toxins to paralyze their prey, which may include fish. The photos show the radula of the Magellan Volute, Odontocym

Great Talks at COA 2019

The 2019 COA Convention included great and diverse programs organized by Carole Marshall. One of them was “Black Water Mollusks,” by Linda Ianniello, who takes photos of pelagic (open-water) marine creatures while drift-diving at night in the Gulf Stream off South Florida and other world destinations. Among many stunning and informative images, she presented the photo on left of a veliger gastropod larva, photographed in the Philippines. The larva has a pair of bilobed vela, which helps with l

Shell of the Week: The Terminal Vitrinella

Originally described from Destin, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, Solariorbis terminalis (Pilsbry & McGinty, 1946) is yet another member of the microgastropod family Tornidae found also along the coast of Southwest Florida. Larger shells of the species reach only 2.5 mm (about 0.1 inch). The shell has a low spire, the suture is well-defined, and the last whorl is rounded at the periphery (outer shell “edge”). The sculpture includes 4–5 spiral cords along the shell periphery. The aperture is rounde

Conchologists of America 2019

The 2019 Conchologists of America Convention took place last week, on Captiva Island, a few miles from the Museum. The convention was a huge success, with well-attended sessions, silent auctions, field trips, and a number of different activities and gatherings. The oral auction of shells and related items raises funds to sponsor the bulk of the COA Academic Grants Program, which this year awarded $25,900 to 15 students. This year’s convention celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the Museum’s Fo

Our Collection Milestones

Today we submitted the Final Performance Report for our most recent collection cataloguing grant, which ended on March 31st. The Museum received two successive grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to complete processing and cataloguing the backlog of its scientific collection and gain full intellectual control over the collection holdings. IMLS funding enabled the Museum to hire specialized staff to work on the project. The first grant ran from October 2012 through S

Shell of the Week: The Cupola Vitrinella

The Cupola Vitrinella, Anticlimax pilsbryi (McGinty, 1945) is one of the most distinctive members of the microgastropod family Tornidae found along the coast of Southwest Florida. Larger shells of the species reach only about 3 mm (about 0.12 inch). As the common name implies, its shell is shaped like a cupola, with a strongly convex spire and relatively flat base. The shell sculpture consists of well-defined spiral lines consisting each of a microscopic zig-zag pattern. The base has a similar s