Seashells in the Snow

Happy 2015 everyone! This is my first post of the year and I decided to do something winter-related... with seashells of course.

Luckily, last week, we had a nice snow fall in Maryland and a snow day at school!!!!!

 

So I decided to take some shells out to play in the snow.

 

 

Here are some of my shells; they are sitting on some handmade toadstools of mine. From front to back: a Lettered Olive, a Banded Tulip, a Florida Fighting Conch, and a Lightning Whelk.

 

Here's a close-up. The Lettered Olive is a shell that I commonly find in North Carolina (click here for my post on Oak Island, NC) and of course, on Sanibel. These mollusks prey on Coquinas in the surf zone, where the waves roll up on the sand. However, Lettered Olives will also scavenge if they get the chance.

 

Moving on....

 

Did you know that shells grow on trees??? Well they do, at least in my backyard, that's the case. :D

 

Here is my beautiful Lightning Whelk. I found it in Fort Lauderdale three years ago. I simply love the yellow-orange colors of this guy- it's a treat to photograph, and even more so, to own!

And here's another photo of my Lightning Whelk in the snow. Lightning Whelks live in the sandy shallows, pretty close to shore.

 

More shells in the trees! Florida Fighting Conch in the front and a Banded Tulip farther back. Banded Tulips sometimes fall prey to their larger relative, the True Tulip. I've found lots of these shells on Sanibel!

 

And here are some more shells in the snow. Florida Fighting Conchs get their name from occasional fights that burst out between rival males. However, they don't all fight in between themselves: if you pick one up, be ready for the mollusk to come out and start trying to hit you with its foot and pointy operculum (it happened to me :D). 

 

I hope that your mood has been lifted by my shells in the snow!

 

Have fun,

Yaroshelllava :D

Shellebrating the Twelve Days of Shellmas!

I bring to you some shelliday cheer with the twelve days of Shellmas!!!

 

On the first day of Shellmas, my shelling buddy gave to me one Scotch Bonnet,

 

 

Two Channeled Whelks,

Three Shark's Eyes,

Four Baby's Ear

Five Chestnut Bonnets,

Six Atlantic Thorny Oysters,

Seven Florida Ceriths,

Eight Banded Tulips,

Nine Calico Clams,

Ten Bubble Shells,

 

Eleven Apple Murices,

 

Twelve Lettered Olives,

 

And an Osprey that wasn't in a tree!

 

And that is how I spread my shelliday spirit!

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D

 

Tuesday Morning on Sanibel (Sanibel Saga #7)

On Tuesday morning I went out to the beach behind our apartment on Middle Gulf Drive

 

 

On Tuesday morning, I got up early (7 am) and went out to the beach.

There's the sand and the waves.... in the morning light.

I got to witness dawn!!!!!!!!

And here's an "Ocean Dawn", beautiful......

See what a beautiful name  I gave my house? Ocean Dawn....

My first find was a live Lettered Olive. It was low tide and there were a bunch of these guys burying in the wet sand.

 

Here's another one!!!!!!!!

A Horse Conch operculum, the trapdoor of a mollusk. This definitely went into my shelling bag.

Here's some cybershelling for you guys!

I spy with my little eye an AUGER!

Do you see an Auger? ;)

 

There was this shell line in the middle of the shore, but I didn't really look closely.

However, on one of the Pen Shells, I found this Chestnut Latirus!

At first, I thought that it was a baby Horse Conch, but the shape is just not right. So I looked it up and found out that it was a Chestnut Latirus.

These guys are MUCH smaller than a Horse Conch ( max. length being 2.2 in.) They live in the water, but prefer the reefs, whereas Horse Conch prefer the sand.

They also feed on barnacles and worms.

Here's a Skate Egg, or Mermaid's Purse in the wrack line.

Here's the wrack line itself...lots of egg casings and pen shells.

Horse Conch Egg Casings, Lightning Conch Egg Casings, Skate Egg...

A Sea Urchin!!!!!!!! This guy joined the Horse Conch operculum in my shelling bag, because he was obviously dead and, I just like Sea Urchins.

A Fig Egg Casing.... These are so cool! Or maybe, I'm just used to the other types of egg casings, but I don't see this type as often. :)

The morning was perfect!!!!!!!!!!

 

See ya soon,

Lava of Ocean Dawn!!!!!!!!! :D

 

P.S. See, it doesn't always take me long to write a new post ;P

 

Spring Break Sanibel Part 1

Ok, so time to recount my Sanibel adventure!!!!!!!!!!!

I arrived on Sanibel around 5 pm on Sunday, April 13th. Here's a photo out of my car window of the Sanibel Causeway.

Here's the Sanibel Lighthouse!!!! Getting closer to Sanibel :D

And here I'm finally at the beach.

As soon as we arrived at our lodging ( apartment, rented house, whatever ;) ), I jumped out of the car and ran to the beach with my handy shell bag.

Let's get this party started!!!!!

 

My first find was this live Lettered Olive. The tide was receding and I've noticed that quite a few of these guys can be found slithering in the sand at low tide.

 

Then I got busy shelling!

Here are my favorite finds for that evening- juvie Florida Fighting Conch, juvie Lightning Whelk, parts of  a Sea Urchin, paired Scallop and a Fish Scale.

 

Not much, but it was a great start!!!!!!!!!

 

The next morning I got up bright and early for the 7 o'clock low tide.

There was a great high tide wrack line with Pen Shells and Seaweed and Egg Casings, but I decided to go walk at the water line and see what goodies lay there.

And here's another view of the high tide wrack line. To the right you can see a bit of the shell line and then the waves. It was rather foggy that morning also.

 

Well, that was the start of my "shelldventure" !

More to come!

Have fun,

Yaroshelllava :D

Tuesday Throwbacks

Hi guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so sorry that I haven't written for the last coupe of weeks!!!!!!!!!!
Really sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!
What with school and extracurricular activities, I just haven't had the time.
But here's a nice post to (sort of) make up for it.

So for today, I decided to switch things up a bit and make it "Throwback Tuesday" instead of "Thursday".
And I'm going to show you more photos from March of last year at Sanibel, FL

 

 

This is a skate egg. Skates are related to sharks, they are both from the class Chondrichthys and are related to other fish with skeletons of cartilage, like themselves. 

Skate eggs are also called "mermaids purses" which I always thought was a cute name. :D

 

 A Lettered Olive!!!!!!!!!! I love these shells. This one, as you can see, was alive so I just left it to go on its own merry way.
Over the years I have found quite a few of these shell, but have given them away to friends and family. I found this out, because a few days ago, I was going over my shell collection and realized that I had maybe only two or three Lettered Olives!!!
OH NO!!!! I'm definitely gonna be on the look out for these when I next go to the beach.

                                             A Sand Dollar. Not sure what species though.

                                                                     
                                                         This here, a Lightning Whelk.
                                                              And how can you tell?
                               That's right! By the fact that the shells opening is to the left side.
             I hope that you remember, from one of my previous posts, what right-handed and left-                                                               handed shells are. :D

A Lightning Whelk shell with a Hermit Crab inside.

 

 And finally, a Lined Sea Star. Sea Stars have many, many tiny tube feet on their undersides that help them move. The tube feet are helped by the star's water-vascular system that provides hydraulic pressure. On the picture here, you can see the several tracks that the sea star left on the sand.
There were lots and lots of these cute Echinoderms on the beaches at low tide.

 

Well, as you mighta guessed, I gotta go ( again)! :D

 

See ya soon,

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D