Snow Day Shells

So today we had no school!!!!!!!!!!
YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I spent the day relaxing at home and going sledding with my friends.
While at home, I decided to do some more shell sorting, you all saw the state of my collection.
And lo and behold, I did manage to sort out a few more shells. Here they are:....

The Corrugate Jewel Box. I don't have enough info on this shell yet....

The Cayenne Keyhole Limpet.

The reason that they are called "keyhole" limpets is because the holes in the shells are shaped like keyholes.

And the Striped Falselimpet.

Limpets are gastropods that live on rocks in the tidal zone. They can move with the help of their foot and feed on algae with their tongue-like radula. The hole in the top of their shells allows the limpets to pass exhaust from their lungs, while falselimpets breathe air and are found above the tide.

 

The Antillean Nerite. As you can see it lacks "teeth" on its inner lip. This helped me distinguish it from the next shell, a Four-toothed Nerite. It is also called the Lightning Nerite. This shell can be fond in brackish water in sheltered areas.

Finally, the Four-toothed Nerite!(or Variegated Nerite)!

I know this picture isn't the best, in reality it's much easier to see this species four "teeth" on its inner left. But you can still see them if you look at the left image.

This mollusk is commonly found with the Bleeding Tooth in areas of high wave action, on expose rocks. It lays its eggs on the same rocks in dome-shaped capsules.

 

Well that's it!

See ya soon!
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

Flying in on Buttefly Wings

So today is Friday. YAY!!!!
And in exactly a week, it's my birthday!!!
Yep, that's right, on Friday, February 28th, I'm turning 16!
But it's not next week yet, so let's stick to today.
Time will fly past as it is, no use rushing it. :D

Speaking of flying, you know what else flies?
Butterflies.
And you know what they use?
Wings!

So today, I'll just show you a bunch of shell "butterfly wings" ( or bivalves).

This shell is called the Sunray Venus. I found it last March on Sanibel Island. I absolutely love this shell!

The Atlantic Wing(ed) Oyster! Same as yesterday, but the two shells do look like wings, sort of....

Kitty's Paws! A smaller version of the great Lion's Paw (which I still want to find). There were lots of these minis on Sanibel.

Two pairs of Florida Spiny Jewel Boxes. But don't let the name fool ya! These shells are the same as roses: thorny, yet sweet. Also, they can be found as far north as North Carolina so don't get upset if you don't have s house in Florida, yet! ;)

 

And lastly, the Cross-barred Venus. It's not closely related to the Sunray Venus, and no longer are both shells in the Venus genus, but they still kept the name.

 

That's it for right now, I have swimming tonight. Yesterday, I had horseback riding and tomorrow I have the second day of my internship (SUPER EXCITED!!!), theatre and shopping. This just gives you a glance at my busy schedule, so don't be mad if I don't post for a coupla days.

 

See ya soon!

Yaroslava :D

A Mini Post on Mini Shells

Ok, I'm sorry!!!! Really, really, sorry!!!
I know that I haven't posted in a few days, but that's because I didn't have any time.
I'm still in school, so between school, homework and after-school activity, oh an sleeping, I have no time whatsoever to do what I'd like: that means blogging.
But, right now, I just grabbed a few moments right before bedtime to give you a small min post on tiny mini shells!
 Here's the first one: an American Carrier Shell.

This shell collects lots of dry rubble and bits of shell on its own shell.

Next, is an Atlantic Wing(ed) Oyster. These small bivalves cling to seaweed.

And this is an adorable Cabrit's Murex! I found it in Fort Lauderdale, back in 2011. It is pretty common on the East Coast of Florida, but maybe even rare on Florida's West Coast.

Finally, the Gaudy Nautica, or Colorful Moon Snail, or Colorful Atlantic Natica or... wait, that's it....

Wow, this little shell has a lot of names. :)

 

Well, that's it for my mini post, gotta go to bed now.

G'night everyone,

Yaroslava :D

"Cockle"-doodle-doo! Happy Valentine's Day to You!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Time to spread the looooooove.
Here's my attempt at it:

 

It's a "Cockle"-doodle-doo heart.

Made out of Atlantic Giant Cockles!

Now, to go back to my first "real" post; all cockles are bivalves. So they have two hinged shells that keep the mollusk inside. Atlantic Giant Cockles are found anywhere from Virginia to Texas. It is the largest cockle shell on the East Coast.

This here shell, is a Prickly Cockle. If you look really closely than you can see tiny spines, toward the outer ribs of the shells.

Finally, the last shell that I want to introduce today is the Yellow Cockle. It is similar to the Prickly Cockle because it also has spines but, it differs in shape (it's more circular) and color ( the Yellow Cockle is more yellowish, than the Prickly Cockle).

 

 

Now for an overview, the above picture has all three cockles.

From left to right: the Atlantic Giant Cockle, the Prickly Cockle and the Yellow Cockle.

 

Well that's all for today,

Yaroslava :D

 

P.S. If any of you ever thinks that I made a mistake in identifying a seashell, please, please, please message me!

Thanks!

An Intro to Shells

My first real post will be about shells.
( I promised something ocean related, right?)

Shells are animals that are called mollusks. In all there are five types of mollusks:

Gastropods, Bivalves, Tusk Shells, Chitons and Cephalopods.

Gastropods are the mollusks with a single external shell. They are the big conchs and whelks, as well as the small periwinkles.

 

This shell here is a Banded Tulip. As you can see its alive. The operculum (trap door) is slightly open and you can see the mollusks body inside. I found it on Sanibel Island at low tide, last March.

 

Next, Bivalves.

These mollusks are kept inside by two shells that are hinged together. Examples are scallops, cockles and quahogs.

 

 

Atlantic Giant Cockles can be up to 5 inches across when adult. In the photo above you can see both shells and the animal inside. The round hole is probably the breathing tube.

 

Tusk Shells, well, look like elephants tusks. I've found them before, but they are so fragile that I never ended up bringing them home. Sadly, I don't have pictures of them.

 

Same with chitons. Chitons are actually made of eight valves that are surrounded by a girdle. They can be pretty small and I have NEVER found one. Chitons are on my "To Find" list.

 

Finally, cephalopods. Only about half a dozen different species from this class have an outer shell. The most well known are the nautiluses. Other members of this class are the squid, octopus and cuttlefish.

Cephalopod shells, such as Argonauts are actually egg cases. But they usually only wash up on shore after storms. Again, these are on my "To Find" list.

 

As a last note, some of you might ask what shells are on my "To Find" list.

Well, all of them, actually!

I have a pretty big shells collection at home, but most of the shells are from the North American East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. In short, all the shells that I have not yet found and brought home are on my "To Find" list.

 

Happy Wednesday!

Yaroslava :D