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.

Little Shells, Little Boxes!

I recently found these little 1.5-inch boxes among old collection materials here at the Museum. The little cardboard containers in the photo, resembling miniature hat boxes, held shells donated to the Museum in the late 1990s by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History). During the process of establishing the Museum collection, our Founding Director Robert Tucker Abbott (who had been an Assistant Curator at the Smithsonian), negotiated the donation of a large number of d

Upside-down Snails

Fat Dove Snails, Parvanachis obesa (C.B. Adams, 1845), are capable of "crawling upside down" under the water surface, or the air-water interface. They do that by taking advantage of the surface tension present (caused in turn by the cohesive forces among water molecules). Fat Dove Snails are very small, at about 0.5 mm (0.02 inch) in maximum size. The smaller the animals, the easier it will be for them to crawl along the air-water interface. The same is true for insects, spiders, and other air-

What’s With That Protoconch?

This unidentified Acteocina "canoe bubble snail" is found on the shores of Fernando de Noronha, an oceanic archipelago located off the coast of northeastern Brazil. The 3.5 mm (about 0.14 inch) adult shell displays on its apex ("top" of the shell) the remnants of the larval shell, or protoconch. Members of the family Acteocinidae have unusual heterostrophic protoconchs, in which the direction of coiling during shell growth changes by about 90 degrees at the shift between larva to adult. The res

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