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.

The Eclectic Food Habits of Lettered Olives

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a great picture is worth much more than that. Consider, for instance, this photo of Lettered Olives, Americoliva sayana (Ravenel, 1834) feeding on the remains of a Speckled Swimming Crab, Arenaeus cribrarius (Lamarck, 1818). The photo was taken at low tide on Marco Island, Florida, by Museum friend (and Shell Ambassador) Amy Tripp. It reminds me of a “clean-up crew” of vultures around roadkill, or hyenas feasting on an antelope carcass. Lettered Olives ha

The Crenulated Pyram

The Crenulated Pyram, Longchaeus suturalis (H. C. Lea, 1843), is, at 12 mm (about 0.5 inch), the largest locally occurring species of the mega-diverse family Pyramidellidae. Pyramidellids are in most cases parasitic marine snails that specialize in sucking the body juices and blood of other marine organisms, including other mollusks, worms, and some crustaceans. The shell of the Crenulated Pyram is smooth, conical, with straight sides; the species is not locally common. The Crenulated Pyram, Lo

A Very Special Scallop

Throughout my few decades as a professional malacologist (and shell lover), I often hear the question “What is your favorite shell?” The answer? I confess that I haven’t been consistent, switching from species to species, according to year, mood, location, and circumstances. One species that is dear to my heart is the Mediterranean Scallop, Pecten jacobaeus (Linnaeus, 1758), also known as the Saint James Scallop. In addition to its attractive and well-proportioned shell, the species played (and

The World Congress of Malacology 2019

Join us for the World Congress of Malacology 2019! The event will take place on August 11–16, 2019, at the Asilomar Conference Grounds, in Pacific Grove, California. This will be a joint meeting of Unitas Malacologica, the American Malacological Society, and the Western Society of Malacologists. Early bird registration, reservation at the Asilomar Conference Grounds, and abstract submission are open, and can be accessed here.

The Brown Eulima

The Brown Eulima, Microeulima hemphilli (Dall, 1884), is a slender gastropod of the family Eulimidae. Eulimidae 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. The Brown Eulima reaches about 5 mm (0.2 inch), and has a teardrop-shaped aperture, and smooth, brownish, slightly translucent shell. The shell in the images was collected by Phyllis Sharp on Sanibel in 2014. The Brown Eulima, Micro

A Maimed Muscle Scar?

In a bivalve, the half-shells, or valves, are kept together in part by one (or two, depending on the family) adductor muscles. When threatened, the bivalve will clamp its shell shut by quickly contracting the muscles. The areas of muscle attachment on the inside surfaces of an empty shell remain as muscle “scars.” Late last week Collection Associate Jessica Godwin called my attention to one of the scars on a valve of a freshwater mussel known as Washboard, or Megalonaias nervosa (Rafinesque, 18

The Corrugated Bivalve

Among the features that hold my attention in a Mediterranean Scallop are the strong, sharp-edged ribs, which are sometimes distinctively squarish in cross-section. They remind me of a corrugated roof, or the core of corrugated cardboard. Corrugated arrangements add great strength to structures, without adding too much weight to them. In a bivalve shell, the corrugations not only add strength, but also help keep the valves aligned and tightly closed, preventing a predator from easily sliding one

The Cayenne and Meta Limpets

As suggested recently by a Museum friend, here is a brief comparison between the shells of two local (Southwest Florida) keyhole limpets. The Cayenne Keyhole Limpet, Diodora cayenensis, is on the top row, the Meta Keyhole Limpet, Diodora meta, on the bottom row. The Cayenne may reach about 25 mm (one inch) locally, whereas Meta may grow to be only half as much. Notice, (1) the color, almost completely absent in Meta; (2) the general outline, more “oval” in Cayenne, more elongate in Meta; (3) the

Ruby, the Whale, and the Bone-eating Snails

Some mollusks can be highly specialized in their feeding habits. Take, for instance, Rubyspira osteovora Johnson et al., 2010 (photo), a deep-sea gastropod that is found only on or around the skeletons of dead whales. In 2010, Shannon B. Johnson of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and her collaborators first named the genus Rubyspira after the nickname of the whale skeleton on which the species was first retrieved, Ruby, combined with spira, Greek and Latin for coil or spira

2019 Conchologists of America Convention on Captiva

The 2019 Conchologists of America Convention will take place on nearby Captiva Island on June 19–23, with field trips planned for June 17–18. The Convention has as its theme the birth centenary of noted American malacologist and National Shell Museum’s Founding Director, Dr. Robert Tucker Abbott. The Museum will be hosting an open house/reception on July 18 at 6 pm. The reception will be open to all full registrants to the Convention. Click here to download the registration form and get more in