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 Buttercup Lucine

The Buttercup Lucine, Anodontia alba Link, 1807 is a local clam belonging to the diverse family Lucinidae. Its shell may reach about 50 mm (about 2 inches) in length, and is circular, inflated, with many fine, commarginal (concentric) growth lines. The color is mostly dull-white, and the internal surface of the shell valves is bright-yellow to orange. Lucinids are mostly filter-feeders that also host symbiotic bacteria in their gills, which provide them with an additional source of food. The But

The Fragile Surf Clam

The Fragile Surf Clam, Mactrotoma fragilis (Gmelin, 1791) is a local clam of the surf clam family Mactridae that may reach about 45 mm (about 1.8 inches) in length. Fragile Surf Clams, as its name indicates, has a thin, but relatively resilient shell, with characteristic ridges on the posterior end. The periostracum, or outer, dark shell layer, is more predominant on the posterior end, and the shell never completely closes in that area. The Fragile Surf Clam, Mactrotoma fragilis, from Sanibel. P

The Atlantic Black Sea Hare

The Atlantic Black Sea Hare, Aplysia morio (A.E. Verril, 1901) is a dark-colored, large (up to 40 cm, or 16 inches) sea slug (a gastropod mollusks without an external shell) that presents the typical, wing-like parapodia and internal shell characteristic of the genus Aplysia. Sea hares are active swimmers, using their parapodia to perform wing-like motions. They are voracious macro-herbivores, consuming large quantities of seaweed around the daily. Their eggs are laid in long, gelatinous, string

The Bay Scallop

To celebrate the upcoming 2018 Pine Island Sound Scallop Search (August 18, 2018), organized by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in conjunction with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, I present the Bay Scallop, Argopecten irradians (Lamarck, 1891), one of the most common species of the family Pectinidae in Southwest Florida. Its shell can reach 75 mm (about 3 inches) in size, and the valves show almost the same degree of convexity, with the lower

The Half-smooth Odostome

The Half-smooth Odostome, Boonea seminuda (C.B. Adams, 1839) is a member of the marine gastropod family Pyramidellidae, a group of small species that in many cases are ectoparasites (parasites on the outer part of the body) on other mollusks. Its conical, tapered shell measures about 5 mm (about 0.2 inch). It has a sculpture of 4–6 spiral cords with squarish nodules. Its color is translucent-white. Half-smooth Odostomes are known to parasitize Common Atlantic Slipper Snails, Crepidula fornicata,

The Western Dondice

Do you like sea slugs? At 10 mm in length (a little less than 0.5 inch), the Western Dondice, Dondice occidentalis (Engel, 1925), is one of the smallest (and most attractive) local species of sea slugs. The Western Dondice on the photo was collected in 2005 by Rodger Bunnell near the Sanibel Causeway, and photographed by José H. Leal. #Dondiceoccidentalis #WesternDondice #FamilyFacelinidae

The Variable Cerith

The Variable Cerith, Cerithium lutosum Menke, 1828, is most likely the rarest of the local shallow-water ceriths (family Cerithiidae). At 13 mm (about 0.5 inch), it may also be the smallest local member of the family. The shell is adorned with a nodulose sculpture, with an oval aperture with poorly defined anterior and posterior canals. The color is very variable, usually brown, dark-brown, blackish, or mottled with white flecks. The aperture white inside. The shell illustrated is one of two fou

The Gold-line Marginella

The Gold-line Marginella, Dentimargo aureocinctus (Stearns, 1872), is a close relative of the locally more conspicuous, the Common Atlantic Marginella, Prunum apicinum (Menke, 1828). Both are members of the family Marginellidae, noted for the thick outer lip on the shell of their species. The shell of the Gold-line Marginella, however, differs from the latter species by its smaller size (about 4 mm, or 0.16 inch) and by having a more elongated spire and a single golden-yellow spiral band set aga

The i-Conic Alphabet Cone

With their colorful shells, Alphabet Cones, Conus spurius Gmelin, 1791, are one of the most celebrated local mollusks in Southwest Florida. Alphabet Cones hatch from egg capsules, swim only for a couple of hours at most, then settle to the bottom as young adults. The photos of the larval Alphabet Cones were taken just after hatching and published for the first time in a 2017 American Malacological Bulletin article by National Shell Museum staff (José H. Leal and Rebecca Mensch) in cooperation wi

An Unnamed Dove Snail

Reaching only up to 9 mm (0.35-inch), this dove snail (family Columbellidae) in the genus Costoanachis is found locally (Southwest Florida) in shallow water, among seaweeds and sometimes seagrasses. The species, however, apparently has not been named: in the past, some authors called it Costoanachis sparsa (Reeve, 1859), but this latter species is something else. The shell is glossy, with about 20 narrow, somewhat straight ribs. The ribs are constricted by a number of fine spiral lines, forming