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.

A Rare Florida Lamellaria

When looking in the Museum for a shell to illustrate the entry above, I found a slightly damaged White Ball Lamellaria, Lamellaria leucosphaera Schwengel, 1942 (photo). The species was described in 1942 by Jeanne E. Schwengel, in the journal The Nautilus (currently published by the Museum). Curiously enough, the holotype, or specimen observed and illustrated by Schwengel, deposited at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadephia, was collected at the bay end of Redfish Pass, the deep pass bet

The Exquisite Lamellarias

Shell-less mollusks and those with a reduced or “hidden” shell typically evolved strategies that allow them to stay protected from predators in the absence of that defensive cover. Lamellarias (family Velutinidae) are small (between 5 and 20 mm) marine snails that completely envelop their shells with the mantle. Their shells (see below) are thin, fragile, and hidden, and have obviously lost their protective function. Different species in the genus Lamellaria evolved to resemble distinct marine

Shell of the Week: The West Indian Alvania

Alvania auberiana (d’Orbigny, 1842) is one of the smallest mollusks found along the coast of Southwest Florida. Reaching about 1.5 mm (0.06 inch) in size at most, its shell is literally the size of a medium-sized grain of sand. A powerful hand lens or, better yet, a small microscope, reveals a sculpture of strong (relatively speaking), intercepting spiral cords and axial ridges, which render a crisscrossed aspect to the shell. The free-swimming larvae of this species leave the egg mass about sev

Conchologists of America 2019 Convention

The 2019 COA Convention is quickly approaching. The 2019 convention celebrates the 100 Anniversary of the Museum’s Founding Director and well-known malacologist and author Robert Tucker Abbott (photo). Tucker, who was instrumental in the creation of the Museum and for imparting a professional spin to the institution from the onset, passed away just a couple of weeks before our Grand Opening on November 18, 1995. Join us in June on Captiva for a week of great programs and field trips. Early bird

Blanket Octopus, Black Water, and Linda Iannello

These photos of a rare open-water Blanket Octopus, Tremoctopus violaceus, were taken by Linda Iannello off Palm Beach County, Florida. In the open ocean, lots of open-water, or pelagic, animals move up from deeper water to feed at night. The Blanket Octopus is one such species. Finding and photographing a living one, in this case a five-foot female, is no small feat. Consider this: a SCUBA diver who likes to take photos of marine animals, going out three to five miles off the coast of East Flo

A Shelly Nest

In 1982, I spent 34 days in Atol das Rocas, Brazil, amassing data for what later became part of my Ph.D. dissertation on gastropod mollusks from Brazilian oceanic islands. The 89-acres atoll is inhabited by large populations of seabirds, including the Sooty Tern (Sterna fuscata). The photo shows one of their nests. Typically, in the absence of twigs, branches, and leaves, Sooty Terns use bivalve shells (mostly the Cross-barred Venus, Chione cancellata) and small coral fragments to "line" their

Shell of the Week: The Beautiful Top Snail

Calliostoma pulchrum (C.B. Adams, 1850) is the rarest of the local shallow-water species of the family Calliostomatidae. Shells may reach about 18 mm (about ¾ inch), have flat-sided whorls with a few beaded cords, and a larger beaded cord just above the suture (the line separating adjacent whorls.) The species has the smaller spire angle (angle formed by the two shell sides) of all local top snail species. The general color pattern is a tan background mottled with reddish-brown spots and grayish

Shell of the Week: The Waxy Gould Clam

Gouldia cerina (C.B. Adams, 1845), is a relatively small (10 mm, or about 0.4 inch), locally occurring venus clam (family Veneridae). Its shell is triangular, narrow when viewed from the beak (the “top” of the shell), and sculptured with fine radial lines and commarginal (“concentric”) growth ridges. The color is white, sometimes with a few brownish radial bands and brown flecks, internally suffused with purple tinges.This species lives in shallow, sandy areas. The Waxy Gould Clam, Gouldia ceri

Shell of the Week: The Lilac Auger

Terebra vinosa Dall, 1889 is a small auger snail that may reach 20 mm (about 0.8 inch). One of the main features that separate this species from other local augers is the shape of the whorl profile: the whorl in side view is concave, and different specimens show different degrees of concavity. The shell sculpture consists of about 22 axial (“vertical”) ribs crossed by flat, indistinctive cords. The species name alludes to the wine shell color, although some individuals may have whitish, cream, l

Meet the Hairy Triton

The Hairy Triton, Monoplex pilearis (Linnaeus, 1758) is a relatively common tropical western Atlantic species that is present also in the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans, including Polynesia and Hawaii. The long-lasting pelagic (open-water) larvae in this species allow for ocean crossing at the larval stage, one of the reasons for its broad geographical distribution. Museum collaborator and outstanding underwater photographer Anne DuPont captured this image off Pompano Beach in Florida. Her