Seashell Transformation Tuesday!!!!!!!!!

The good thing about Tuesday, is that it isn't Monday! Another good thing is that now because of Instagram we have this thing called #transformationtuesday. I've been wanting to do this for a while and today I had some time, so here is how seashells grow and transform!!!!!!

Now we all know that seashells come from egg casings that look like.....

 

..THIS! (Fig shell egg casing)

Or like this! (Horse Conch egg casing)

Or like this! (Whelk egg casing)

Then after the mini shells hatch out, this is what they look like!

These are Whelk babies. So teensy and cute, right? As you can see that mollusks already have their shells. The shells are made out of calcium carbonate.

And now, here is how big a whelk shell can grow! This is a Knobbed Whelk. They are right-handed mollusks and are found usually further north than the similar looking Lightning Whelk that is found more south. Also, the lightning Whelk is a left-handed shell. For my post on left-handed vs. right-handed shells click here

 

And here is the "transformation" part. From just-hatched baby whelk to this nice, 8-inch Knobbed Whelk. I found it on Assateague Island, by the way. :D

 

And now, I took some more "transformation" pictures of my other shells.

 

The Lettered Olive. This shell is pretty abundant and it lives most of its life buried in the sand, with only its siphon stretched out above, over-ground.

The Colorful Moon Snail or Gaudy Natica or Colorful Atlantic Natica. I found the bigger shell at Bowman's Beach on Sanibel Island!

The Lightning Whelk. If you compare this shell to the Knobbed Whelk above, you will see how they open up to different sides. The Lightning Whelk is one of the very few left-handed shells.

These are my beloved Horse Conchs. The baby one is just super tiny! But the juvie one isn't much larger- no more than 4 inches long, when these shells have been known to grow up to 20 inches in length! I am still searching for my grown, adult Horse Conch.

And lastly, the Turkey Wing! They can be found from North Carolina down to Bermuda and Brazil!

 

And I will end our seashell transformation Tuesday on that note!

See ya,

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D

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

Relaxing on my Way to the Lighthouse ( Sanibel Island Part #4)

I left you guys off, in the middle of my walk to the Lighthouse!

Well, now I came back to pick you up.

 

 

I found more goodies rolling in the waves, the tide was incoming.

My second baby Horse Conch and my FIRST (AHHHH!!!!!!!!!) full Nutmeg.

I was sooooo happy, but these shellcesses didn't prevent me from continuing on.

The beach stretched out in front of me......

Hmmmmmm... what else might I find?

This guy was a Sea Cucumber, lying in the wrack line. I think that he was dead and dried out.

Next, a live Ponderous Ark with some seaweed attached to it. I liked this guy a lot because of the yellowish coloring of his shell.

Usually they are more white, but I found a few of these yellow colored once during my week on Sanibel this year.

Keep on walking....

There are more shells to be found....

And even more shells....

I think that you can see the Lighthouse in the distance here in this photo....

Here's a Dosinia shell. I left it for someone else to find because I have a lot of these already :D

Some houses on the island. It's heaven!!!!!!

And the ocean- even better....

That day the waves brought me in a lot of treasures, take a look:

All my finds in my first day at Sanibel.

I know it's now the best photo, but I had to stretch my arms way up high to take a picture encompassing the whole table!!!!!!

And my favorite finds for that walk to the Lighhouse and back:

my first baby Horse Conchs, fancy Wentletraps, the Wormie and some Sea Urchins!!!

Sweet Shellcess!!!!!!!!!

 

Be back in a while,

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D

Return from Sanibel

I'm taking abreak from class during school right now and writing this entry to give you a sneak peek at teh many posts to come about my trip to Sanibel Island for Spring Break!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im sooooooo excited!!!!!!!!
I'm sorry that I haven't posted for so long, but I hope that the future Sanibel posts make up for it. :D

I got to Sanibel on Sunday, April 13th afternoon and I immediately headed ot the beach. And kept on shelling everyday. at various of the beaches around the island all week long, until I left on Saturday, April 19th.

So, without further ado,
I give some shell pictures to you!!!!!!!!!!!

A handful of my shell treasures, from Thursday at Gulfside City Park during the incoming high tide. I found all of these buried in the high tide wrack line: Buttercup Lucine, Skate Egg, Aphabet Cone (first one!!!), Florida Cone, two baby True Tulips (ahhhh!!!!), a mini Orange Scallop, three Alternate Tellins and an Apple Murex.

Another one of my FAVORITE finds at Gulfside City Park during the incoming high tide, on I think, Wednesday! I caught this sweet juvie Horse Conch in the surf with a net.

I was sooooo thrilled!!!!! Sweet Shellcess!!!!!!!!!

Another handful of treasures- found on East Gulf Drive during an afternoon outgoing low tide.

I loved the Florida Worm Shell and the West Indian Worm Shell ( the white wormie)!!!!!!!! The other shells are two Florida Cones, I think, a juvie Lightning Whelk, a huge Bubble Shell, an Angulate Wentletrap, and an unidentified shell that I think is some Periwinkle. :)

 

More shells: a baby Saw-toothed Pen Shell ( I think these monsters are adorable when small!!!), an Atlantic Winged Oyster, a Lace Murex and a Pear Whelk.

I found these on East Gulf Drive too :D

And lastly, for today- I promise I'll be back!!!!- my first baby True Tulip!!!!!!!!!!!

It's in the first picture of this post too, but it's just ot delicious- so I had to show it to you separately.

 

Well, I gotta get back to my school work!!!!!!!!!

See ya soon,

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D

Lots of Adorableness and Shell Babies: Thursday Throwbacks

So since its Thursday, I decided to go straight to the "Throwbacks". No need to switch it up like I did on Tuesday. :D

More photos of wonderful Florida....

Some egg capsule on a Pen Shell. I'm guessing that they are Horse Conch egg casings, but now really sure.

 

 

 Now here are two shell Egg Casings: the one on the left are definitely from a  Lightning Whelk and the one on the right are, for sure, those of a Horse Conch. 

A cute Sea Squirt.

 

 An even more adorable Sea Star, probably a baby Nine-Armed Sea Star.

You can see the nine arms.

 

Well, that's some of the cuteness that I saw on my trip last year.

 

See ya later,

Lava of Ocean Dawn or Yaroshellava (Yaro"shell"lava)

 

P.S. Yaroshelllava- a name I came up with today to demonstrate my love for shells.

And now a challenge: come up with your own shell name, don't be shy. :D

 



Fantasizing about Florida.

Last year, March 2013, my family and I went to Sanibel Island, FL for a week of vacation.
Sanibel Island is the #1 spot for shelling in the US! Now you can see why I desperately wanted to go there.
So, after several years of trying to persuade my parents to take us there, they agreed.
That week in March was heavenly!
I loved the island, the beaches, the biking trails and most importantly....
THE SHELLS!!!!!
Here's a glimpse of some of the shells that I collected:

You can see the HUGE Saw-toothed Pen Shell, the Atlantic Giant Cockles, the Whelks and the Banded Tulips.

The rest of the shells I just kind of heaped there because I'm not really neat... ;D

Anyway, this was my second time in Florida because in November 2012 we had gone to Fort Lauderdale.

And now!!!!!! We're going to Sanibel AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Yep, in a little over a month I'll be on the darling island again.

I can't wait!

But in the mean time, I want to show you guys some of my pictures from last year....

 

This guy here is a live Florida Fighting Conch. The reason for their name is their pretty aggressive personality. When I was holding this guy he kept hitting me with his foot and claw-like operculum (trap-door, you can see it at the bottom of the picture). But I managed to get this cute photo of him before returning him to the water. :D

 

Now this guy here is burrowing into the sand, but I don't think he ever got any further. Out of the hundreds of live Florida Fighting Conchs that were strewn on the beach at low tide, lots of them were in the position that you see here.

 

Next is the Florida Horse Conch. This, here shell is the largest gastropod in North America and the second largest ( after the Australian Trumpet) in the world. This shell has been on my "To Find" list ever since I first saw it in a shell book, but I only got to find one last year.

But it was alive, so I put it back in the water.

On Sanibel Island it's illegal to take home any live shell, sea urchin, sand dollar or sea star. But even if it was legal, I would have never taken this guy home.

I 'd much rather it stay alive.

So this year I'm hoping for a nice big empty Horse Conch to take home.

 

 

                                             This is another picture of the same shell. Right after I took this photo, the Conch spit water at my camera. Thankfully, the camera was fine. Horse Conchs hunt on other large gastropods such as Tulip Shells and Lightning Whelks. They get their prey by grabbing the other mollusks operculum and holding it tightly while eating.

 

Well that's it for today. I gotta go now.

But don't be sad, there will definitely be more posts on Sanibel Island in the next few days.

 

See ya soon!

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D