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 Two-band Eulima

Eulima bifasciata d’Orbigny, 1841 is a super-slender member of the family Eulimidae. Eulimids are snails that parasitize the external or internal parts of echinoderms such as sea cucumbers and sea urchins, basically sucking their blood for a living. Two-band Eulimas may reach 10 mm (a little less than 0.5 inch), have a very glossy shell with slightly convex whorl outlines, and a very pointed apex. Two golden-brown bands just below the suture (the groove separating two whorls) are characteristic

Shell of the Week: The Dwarf Surf Clam

Mulinia lateralis (Say, 1822) is a small white clam that may reach 18 mm (0.7 inch) in length. Surf clams belong to the family Mactridae, and one of the main features that distinguish them from other local bivalves is the presence of an internal ligament. The ligament is the brownish structure near the shell beak that, acting as a spring, helps keep the shell valves slightly ajar when the clam is relaxed. Dwarf Surf Clams have their beaks in a central position, and a ridge on the posterior regio

Cool New Techniques for the Study of Mollusks

In recent years, modern medical and health-diagnostic techniques have opened the doors for stimulating developments in zoological and evolutionary studies of mollusks. In the last few decades, sophisticated genetics and molecular methodologies have been making huge contributions to the study of the “genealogy” of mollusks, or molluscan evolution. But recent adaptations and applications of health-science technologies to morphological analyses in zoology are now beginning to match the fast rate a

A Sea Slug-like Bivalve?

Every January, staff at the Malacology Lab at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in Paris, France, sends their “Happy New Year” communiqué to colleagues and associates. This year’s six-page communiqué included updates on their 2018 activities in New Caledonia, the hyper-biodiverse French territory in the Southwest Pacific that has been a focal point of research led by their principal investigator, malacologist Philippe Bouchet. Galeommatoidean bivalves are particularly well represe

Shell of the Week: The Giant Montacutid

Orobitella floridana (Dall, 1899) has an apparently contradictory vernacular name, as the shell rarely reaches beyond 16 mm (about 0.6 inch) in length. But all is relative in nature: the species belongs to the family Lasaeidae, a group of clams noted for their very small size, with many members of the family reaching only about a couple of millimeters (about 0.08 inch). The Giant Montacutid has an oval, inflated, white shell with a sculpture of concentric lines that become stronger on the anteri

Colin Redfern, 1938-2019

It is with great sadness that I inform that great friend and collaborator Colin Redfern passed away this morning in a life-care facility in his hometown of Boca Raton, Florida. Born in Great Britain, Colin spent a big part of his life in Abaco, Bahamas. He was a classically trained professional pianist and productive citizen scientist who focused on collecting shells and mollusks in that Bahamian island, where he started to gather data and photographs for what eventually became the two editions

Museum Celebrates Aquarium Groundbreaking

On January 18, 2019, the National Shell Museum proudly celebrated a successful groundbreaking on an innovative aquarium which will feature amazing mollusk species from around the world, including octopuses, cuttlefish, giant clams, and squids. Dorrie Hipschman, Executive Director at the National Shell Museum, explains: “The National Shell Museum believes that mollusks—the marvelous creatures that create the shells you find on the beach—are amazing animals. There are more mollusks in the ocean t

Shell of the Week: The Antillean File Clam

Limaria pellucida (C.B. Adams, 1848) reaches 25 mm (one inch), and has, like most species in the family Limidae, an oval-elongate shell that resembles a “distorted,” or asymmetrical, scallop. The shell is thin-walled, translucent-white, with many narrow radial ribs of irregular width and distribution. The hinge “ears” have about the same size. The clam has salmon-pink gills and relatively large translucent-white tentacles festooned with white “rings” over their entire length. Records of beached

Shell of the Week: The Crested Oyster

Ostrea stentina Payraudeau, 1826 (family Ostreidae) is a 40 mm (about 1.5 inch), rarely 50 mm (about 2 inches), oyster that may be found on Southwest Florida beaches. The shell outline consists of variations of oval shapes, and the shell edge is often crenulated, or crimped. Its color is variable, sometimes grayish, often with tinges of brown. Unlike the edible, commercial Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea virginica, which may form large clusters with thousands of individuals, the Crested Oyster is so

Now What, Broken Shells?

Not quite... The photo shows two Alphabet Cone (Conus spurius Gmelin, 1791) shells that have been clipped by predators, most likely Stone or Flame crabs. The resulting gashes reveal that parts of the earlier whorls located inside the shell have disappeared. In each shell only the columella, or central pillar, was left behind. Most likely, dissolution of the inner parts in these shells was not a result from the crabs’ fondness for molluscan meals. Some cone snails, along with other gastropods, a