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.

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

Shell of the Week: The Sculptured Top Snail

Calliostoma euglyptum (A. Adams, 1855) is one of the locally rarer species of the family top snail family Calliostomatidae. Commonly reaching about 18 mm (about ¾ inch), the species has characteristic, slightly rounded whorl sides, and a base without a well-defined, deep umbilicus, the orifice present on the center of the base of other species of the family. The color is dull-rose or orangish-brown, with faint streaks of lighter color. The Sculptured Top Snail, Calliostoma euglyptum. Photo by J

Chiton Poop!

A couple of weeks ago I photographed a live Striate Glass-hair Chiton, Acanthochitona pygmaea. (Chitons are usually elliptical mollusks with eight shelly plates.) The chiton was brought to the Museum by Lorin Buckner, who found it near the Sanibel Causeway. After downloading the images from my camera to the computer, I discovered that the 12 mm-long (about 0.5 inch) mollusk had small fecal pellets (arrow in photo) near its posterior end (left end of the image). Fecal pellets are agglutinated le

Shell of the Week: The Prea Sea Slug

The Prea Sea Slug, Sclerodoris prea (Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1967) is a nudibranch gastropod mollusk that measures about 40 mm (about 1.5 inch). Nudibranchs are shell-less sea slugs that bear their respiratory organs, the “gills”, externally (the term Nudibranchia is a combination of the Latin word for naked, nudus, and the Greek word for gills, branchia.) Although I don’t know this for a fact, it is very likely that zoologists Eveline and Ernest Marcus named the species after another animal, t

Shell of the Week: The Plicate Mangelia

At 6 mm in length, Pyrgocythara plicosa (C.B. Adams, 1850) is one of the local small-sized gastropods. The shell is elongate-fusiform, with the spire (coiled part minus last whorl) measuring about half shell length. The sculpture consists of 11­−12 strong axial ribs crossed by about 5−6 spiral cords. The aperture has a strong indentation on the internal side of outer lip, and shell color is light-brown to reddish-brown, with bluish-white remnants of a periostracum. The Plicate Mangelia, Pyrgocyt

Digital Imaging Project Launched

Last week the Museum hired photographers and computer graphics professionals James Kelly and Damon May, launching the core phase of its Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-sponsored Digital Imaging Project. James and Damon started photographing materials from our collection for online posting, as part of an endeavor that will make available about 9,200 collection lots (holdings) to researchers, aficionado(a)s, citizen scientists, students, and anyone interested in examining the imag

“Blue” Cloudy Periwinkles

The Cloudy Periwinkle, Littoraria nebulosa (Lamarck, 1822), is found along the coast of Southwest Florida and most of the tropical western Atlantic. They live high above the high tide line, mostly on dead tree trunks and branches, where they graze on microalgae and fungi. Periwinkles are marine gastropods that became almost completely independent of the aquatic environment. I took this photo at Cayo Costa State Park, two islands north of Captiva Island. The image shows unusually bluish-colored

A Cool Sea Slug

Nudibranchs are shell-less sea slugs that usually bear their gills conspicuously on the back side of their bodies. In addition, they more often than not rely on chemical substances rather than on a shell for overall protection. The sea slug Polycera hummi Abbott, 1952 (photo) may reach about 20 mm (a little less than an inch) in size, and may be found from North Carolina through Florida and the Gulf. That colorful species was named in 1952 by Shell Museum's Founding Director Robert Tucker Abbot

Shell of the Week: The Stearns Dove Snail

At only 5 mm (0.2 in inch) in maximum size, Aesopus stearnsii Tryon, 1843, is one of the smallest members of the dove snail family Columbellidae found on the beaches of Southwest Florida. Its shell is relatively slender for the family, with the aperture (opening) spanning about 1/3 to ¼ of shell length. The shell sculpture shows very narrow, etched spiral lines. The color is cream color, usually with a faint orange-brown band just below the suture (the line separating two whorls). The photo show

Shell of the Week: The Tongue Auger

Terebra glossema Schwengel, 1942 is the rarest of the four local shallow-water species of the auger family Terebridae. It resembles the Eastern Auger, Terebra dislocata, but differs from that by fainter spiral lines crossing the axial (“vertical”) ribs, whorls with more convex profile, and less “stepped” whorls. The shell measures a little more than one inch (25 mm), and color patterns range from cream to light-brownish to orange-brown, sometimes with irregular bands. The Tongue Auger, Terebra g