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

The Shell Sorting Hat!

So, my second post for today: Shell ID and sorting.
The Shell Sorting Hat ( a reference to Harry Potter!!!) are my new shell ID books.
I decided to sort out some of my identityless (is that even word?) shells.
Here is half of my shell collection in its usual disarray:

As you can see its not that neat.

Here is one of my more neat display cases made out of an old candy box. :D CREATIVITY!!!!

 

Some more shells, some sorted, some not.

Here are two containers of my unsorted, unidentified shells!

Let's get started!!!

So finally I discovered what these two were: Common Dove Shells! They were about 3/4 of an inch long. You can tell that these are the Common Dove Shell because of the little teeth on its lip ( on the right picture).

Next, the Giant Coquina Clam, or Great False Coquina, or Giant False Coquina.

Lots of names. These two were about 1.5 inches long and as you can see, look a lot like the common Variable Coquina.

The Antillean Lima!!! Not sure where I found these, but I was really glad to finally find out what they were.

The American Carrier Shell. We already met before, but I just found a separate little box for it today. :D

And the Nutmeg. This is the only specimen of this tiny shell that I have found so fat. It's not in the best condition, but I hope to find more this year. This guy was found on Sanibel Island in March 2013. These mollusks feed on soft-bodied animals buried in the sand.

 

Well that's it for today. Look for more shell sorting and ID post in the future!

 

See ya soon,

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D