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

 

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