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.

Fish or Mollusk?

A sea slug that lives in open water, looks and swims like a fish, and glows in the dark? That is Phylliroe bucephala, a transparent, bioluminescent, three inches-long nudibranch gastropod. The sea slug swims in the upper layers of the open ocean, throughout the world’s tropical and subtropical regions. This great image above, by black-water diver and photographer Linda Ianniello, shows the sea slug feeding on a small jellyfish, possibly an Aequorea species. (Zoom in, and you can see three amphip

Shell of the Week: A Left-handed White Spot Marginella

This sinistral Prunum guttatum won the "Shell-of-the-Show, Self-collected" award at the Sanibel Shell Show (March 2024). It was part of an exhibit prepared by students and National Shell Museum & Aquarium volunteers Holt and Cabe Rieck. Their exhibit also won the Environmental Awareness Award at the show, as it dealt with the potential effects of temperature change on mollusks in the Florida Keys. Holt and Cabe collected this "one-in-a-million" shell at Loggerhead Beach at Bahia Honda Key.   #pr

My Copycat Volute!

During a past Conchologists of America (CoA) convention in Florida, I mentioned casually to Brazilian shell dealer Marcus Coltro ("Femorale") that, as a museum professional, I opted not to have a shell collection, to avoid the perception of conflict of interest. I told him that I particularly missed not having any examples of the species I named. A few days later in the mail I received from Marcus and his brother José Coltro this great shell of the Copycat Volute (Odontocymbiola simulatrix Leal

Shell of the Week: The Dubious Volute

Aurinia dubia (Broderip, 1827) is the largest volute (family Volutidae) species in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, reaching 197 mm (about 7.8 inches) in length. The species has a relatively thin, tan-colored shell with sparse reddish-brown spots. The Dubious Volute can be found in relatively deep water, from 60 to 400 m (about 200 to 1,300 ft), from North Carolina south to both sides of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.#auriniadubia #scaphelladubia #volutidae #drytortugas

Another Great COA Convention!

The 2024 Convention of Conchologists of America (COA) was held last week at the Hilton Melbourne Hotel, in Melbourne, Florida. The National Shell Museum & Aquarium was represented by Executive Director Sam Ankerson, yours truly, and Marine Biologist Chris Whitt. I presented the talk “Life After the Flood: Exhibits Renovation at the National Shell Museum & Aquarium,” including an outline of the revamped displays in the Museum’s “Living Gallery” and a sneak preview of the exhibits planned for the

Unraveling the True Identity of the Florida Cone

On May 30, 2024 I published with colleagues Greg Herbert, Bill Fenzan, Aaron Avery, and Federico Márquez, an article setting the record straight as to the true identity of the Florida Cone (Conus anabathrum Crosse, 1865), a common local species in Southwest Florida. The article wsa introduced at the last meeting of Florida United Malacologists (FUM) last April, on Sanibel.Download the open-access article here:https://academic.oup.com/mollus/article/90/2/eyae019/7684639 

Shell of the Week: The McGinty’s Cone

Conasprella mcgintyi (Pilsbry, 1955) belongs to the so-called “mazei complex” of western Atlantic Conasprella, along with other species of cone snails displaying slender, elegant shells with relatively long spires. The species can be found off both sides of Florida and the Florida Keys. It differs from the more widespread Conasprella mazei by the more diffuse color pattern, among other features. The maximum reported size for the species is 52.2 mm (about 2 in). The shell illustrated was collecte

Matchless Moon Snails!

Have you checked the Lewis’s Moon Snails in the National Shell Museum & Aquarium’s Living Gallery? Neverita lewisii is one of the most impressive (and active) mollusks in our Cold-water Touch Pool. The Pacific Northwest species is the largest in the moon snail family Naticidae, with its shell reaching 14 cm (5.5 inches) in size. When out of its shell, the snail can uptake water to fill hollow spaces in the mantle and foot. This expands the size of the animal and creates a large plow-like structu

Shell of the Week: The Warty Arene

Arene bairdii (Dall, 1889) is a small gastropod (up to 6 mm, or about ¼ inch) that belongs in the relatively small (in number of species) family Areneidae. The species has a pink-red shell with 5–7 rows of saw tooth-like projections. Arene species have a shelly, round operculum. This “Shell of the Week” is found from North Carolina south to northeastern Brazil. In the southern part of its range the species is found mostly in coral reef habitats. #arenebairdii #wartyarene #areneidae #cyclostreme

The Angel Wing and Its Siphons

Angel Wings (Cyrtopleura costata) live buried in sand or mud, inhabiting a cylindrical tunnel, which they occupy for the duration of their lives. Like most bivalve mollusks, Angel Wings are filter feeders, pulling water in through an incurrent siphon, pushing it through the gills, where the food particles are retained, then returning the water back to the environment via an excurrent siphon. The siphons are extensible, relatively long, and longitudinally fused. The incurrent siphon is wider than