So I'm Back Again

                                                              Hi guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



             I must say that I am extremely sorry for not writing for such a long time- but I do have several excuses; firstly my summer was extremely busy, and then school started.

             So I started this summer by working at the Invertebrates Exhibit at the National Zoo ( unfortunately is was closed due to budget shortages :( ) and going to sewing camp. Then, I flew to Russia, for a month, then I  came back and went to Oak Island, NC for a week.

              I shelled a lot. The shells were definitely not as great as on Sanibel, but they were still there. By the way, I'm really sorry, but I don't think that I will finished chronicling my Sanibel Saga of 2014 for you guys. It was about six months ago and I remember it poorly. Plus, I have barely any time now- what with horse back riding, soccer, theatre, tutoring, school and COLLEGE APPS ( yes, I'm a senior now!!!!!).

               But, to make you feel better- I'll post some pictures form North Carolina right now.

 

Here's a Whelk Egg Casing- I think it was the first time that I found egg casings on Oak Island.

 

Water under the pier. There are two fishing piers on Oak Island.

 

Some shells- Northern Quahog, Scallops, Whelk Egg Casing and Unknown Shell on my finger tip.

 

There's a perfectly lovely marsh on the island- with a walk way and several trails.

 

 

The dunes....

 

Here's some cybershelling!!!!!!!

 

 

And some more cybershelling!!!!!!!!

 

Some of the shells that I collected- lots of Lettered Olives, Augers, Marginellas and Shark Eyes.

 

My tiny Wentletrap, the only one I found this year on Oak Island.

 

An interesting, light pink Scallop. Not sure specifically what kind.

 

You can see the beautiful rainbow in the background. This year, it was rainy for about half of the week that we were on the island. However, when it did stop raining, it was beautiful out.

 

Other shells that I collected- see all those Marginellas (!!??), Lettered Olives, Shark Eyes, Augers, Worm Shells and Oyster Drills.

 

 

I found some fossils too- two Shark Teeth, a Crab Claw and a Puffer Fish Mouth Plate.

 

And when it stopped raining, this is how beautiful the sky and beach were!!!!!!!!

 

 

And once again, I really gotta go. I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.

 

Bye,

Yaroshelllava :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