It's Murex Monday!!!!!!!

Hey y'all!
Today will be a short but educational post because I don't have much time.
As you can guess by the title, it's gonna be about MUREXES!!!!!

Featured will be the Apple Murex, the Lace Murex, and the Cabrit's Murex.
Let's get started then!

 

First is the Florida Lace Murex. All the Lace Murices that I have found were on Sanibel Island. The most common coloring for these shells is white with a pinkish nose. Darker, tan or light brown murices are more rare. This is considered to be the most common Florida Murex, but I have found more Apple Murices than Lacies.

Also, these guys are so closely related to the West Indian Lace Murex, that although they are listed as two separate species, the Florida Lace Murex might actually be a subspecies of the West Indian Lace Murex.

 

Next is the Apple Murex- all these have also been found on Sanibel Island.

 

These guys prey exclusively on the common Eastern Oyster. They bore holes in the oyster shells to get at the mollusk's meat.

 

The Cabrit's Murex is pretty rare to be found on Sanibel Island. I think that it's more common the Florida's East Coast. This guy was found in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

 

The Cabrit's Murex was named in honor of a French shell collector from the mid-1800's.

And here is a comparison of all three murices (from left to right): the Cabrit's Murex, the Lace Murex and the Apple Murex.

 

All murices are really pretty and a favorite of mine as a sheller, I hope you guys like them too!

 

Bye now,

Yaroshelllava :D

The Evolution of a Name

Today I will tell you why I call my blog "Lava of Ocean Dawn".
Have any of you read Anne of Green Gables?
If you haven't then you should, because it's a GREAT book! But to get back on track- "Green Gables" is the name of Anne's house or farm.
Therefore, "Ocean Dawn" is the name of MY house. Got it?
And "Lava", because that's the nickname that I have come up with for myself and that only my best friends use.
Therefore, my name is Lava and I am from a house which I named Ocean Dawn.

Might be strange, but I like it!
No, scratch that, I LOVE it.

Now, I wanna show  you the sign I made and hung up in front of my house to tell everyone that it's named Ocean Dawn.

Soooooooo, first I got a board and drew the design that I wanted on there: (Ocean Dawn in English and Russian, pictures of sunrise and shells). Then I used my woodburning pen to wood burn the design into the board.

Then I painted it with acrylic paint, I think...

And now the shells that I drew from top left corner clockwise: Angel Wing, Thick Lucine, Lettered Olive, Florida Horse Conch, Shark Eye, Turkey Wing (Zebra Ark), Paper Fig and True Tulip.

And finally, I hung it over our house number on our wall. :D

I like it a lot, what about you.

 

And now, thanks for being patient, a few shell photos:

 

 
 
 
 

This here is a Knobbed Whelk. It looks like a Lightning Whelk but there is a key difference between the two shells.
                                     
                                                        Here is a Lightning Whelk.
Lightning Whelks are one of the few Left-handed shells, while Knobbed Whelks are right-handed. Whether a shell is right-handed or left-handed can be determined by holding the shell, apex (top of the shell) pointing up, in front of you so that you can see the opening of the shell. If the opening is on your right then the shell is "right-handed" and vice-versa.
Also, the Knobbed Whelk is found farther up north than the Lightning Whelk. I found all my Knobbed Whelk on Assateague Island and all my Lightning Whelk in North Carolina or Florida.

Here is a right-handed Knobbed Whelk.

 

And a left-handed Lightning Whelk! Got it?

 

 

And lastly, the cute Lace Murex! I found these two on my trip to Sanibel Island, FL last March and I'm hoping to find more this year.

 

See ya soon,

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D