First Time Shells and Other Matters

 

 

HELLLOOO!

So I'm being a good girl, and writing another post today. This one will be a little bit of a throwback to my trip to Sanibel that was this April 2014.

I want to show you guys some of the shells that I had found for the first time EVER this year.

 

 

First is the Nutmeg! As you can see, the shell on the left is pretty beat up and "incomplete". That was the one I found on Sanibel two years ago in March of 2013. I was happy to have a Nutmeg but now I wanted a perfect one. So, this year I was lucky and found FIVE perfect Nutmegs!!!! The one on the right is one of them. :D

 

Next, is this Chestnut Turban. Now I've found lots of Chestnut Turbans before, but never an ORANGE one. So this was a first for me!

I caught it with my butterfly net on the Captiva side of Blindpass, under the bridge at low tide. I was wading in the water and the tide was rushing out and shells were hurling through the water. Thank goodness I had my net! I caught lots of Florida Fighting Conchs that time and this Orange beauty.

So here's my advice to you: outgoing low tide at Blindpass is wonderful!. Go under the bridge with a net and watch the shells roll by you!

 

Moving on to this perfect Florida Cone. I don't quite remember if this was my first, but I'm pretty sure that it was. I caught this one in the surf at Bowman's Beach during the afternoon low tide.

 

 

 

Now, the Horse Conch has been on my bucket list for FOREVER! I've been wanting to find it for ages and ages; in fact, it might even be my favorite shell.

But until that trip, I had only found bits and pieces like the ones above.

 

Then, as I was walking along the shore, going from East Gulf Drive to the Lighthouse, I stumbled on this tiny beauties, rolling in the surf! I was psyched!!!!!!! So happy! :D

But as you know, now that I had a baby Horse Conch, I wanted a big one, a huge one, a MONSTER one!!! So I kept searching and hoping.

 

And I found one! I was on Gulfside City Park at high tide and the surf and breakers ( waves at the very shore) were pretty rough. But I had my net and I could see the hundreds of shells being tossed by the surf. I saw what I though was a Florida Fighting Conch and caught it. I took it out of the net and then saw, that I had this Horse Conch in the net too!!!!!

I had caught it by pure luck!!! It's only about 4 inches long, so not enormous. But, still!!!...

And now my next goal? Find a big one! Yep... :D

 

 

Also, I found some full True Tulips on that trip. Like with the Horse Conch, I kept on finding bits and pieces, until the very last day, when I found these two babies at Gulfside City Park at high tide (Boy, do I love that beach!)

And again, being the enthusiastic sheller that I am, my next goal is an adult True Tulip.

Well, there's my Sanibel Spring Break trip next April to look forwards to, huh?

 

 

The Sunray Venus. Both these shells I found on my first trip to Sanibel in March 2013. I didn't find any this trip, and was a little disappointed. But, I'll find more, never fear!!!!!! ;)

 

 

And now a little educational post. I have these two tiny Trivia shells (above) in my collection and was I trying to figure out what exact species they were.

 

 

Now for the longest time ever, I thought that they were Four-spotted Trivias like the ones above, that I found in my Shell ID book. (Sorry for the sideways picture, but he computer is being stubborn).

 

But they're not...

(Dun dun dun!!!)

 

They are in fact Coffeebean Trivias!!!!!!!! As you can see, I did some research, compared them to the photos in the book and reached my conclusion.

And now, some differences between the two species.

 

The Coffebean Trivias are larger than other Trivia species- they can reach 3/4 inches in length (huge, right? :D ). The Four-spotted Trivia, though, is just 3/8 of an inch long. Next, the color is obviously different. While the Coffeebean Trivia is light purple, with six roughly symmetrical  spots, the Four-spotted Trivia is pinkish white with 1-4 darker spots.

Finally, the two mollusks have slightly different habitat ranges. Coffeebean Trivias range from North Carolina down to Brazil and can also be found on the SW coast of Florida. But, the Four-spotted Trivia can only be found on the SE coast of Florida.

Both my Coffeebean Trivias were found around Miami and Fort Lauderdale on the East Coast. As for the Four-spotted Trivia, it's still on my shelling bucket list!!!!

 

Well, that's it for today, and hopefully I'll see you again soon!!!!!!

Good luck on all your shelling adventures!

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D