Archive for Bones
Tattoo Shell Crazy
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Do you love shelling? Ashley loves shelling so much she wants to always be able to look down at her feet to see shells any time of day … wherever she is. So she has seashells tattooed on her foot. I love that! I especially love that because she is the daughter of one of my long time friends from high school, Laura. Laura, Miyuki, Ashley and Ashley’s bestie Ashlyn came to Sanibel for a visit. So of course, we went shelling. There’s nothing better than catching up with friends from the old neighborhood in Virginia while walking the beach in Florida.
They couldn’t get over all of the live and empty shells at GulfSide City Park (for a map CLICK HERE) that are still there.
Not only did they find shells, Ashlyn and Ashley found so many cool pieces of DRIFTWOOD. Ashley’s looks like a dragon head, right?
I know yall are gonna think I’m crazy but I was thrilled when Ashlyn picked up this cool dried out fish head (Gar, maybe?) with all of his teeth in tact then gave it to me. haha I love the weird BEACH BLING! Thanks Ash!
Just like I showed you in February, Miyuki is still taking photos…
Thank you Laura and Miyuki for the blast from the past!
Okay, I’ve got to change the subject just for a sec…. because….
The new 2013 iLoveShelling Calendar is here!!
Waahhooo!!
It’s chock full of your favorite photos and memories of shelling on Sanibel so each day you can see and reminisce about your favorite beach. It even has a QR code on each calendar month so you can scan it with a smart phone to take you to the iLoveShelling post to read the story about the photo. Don’t know about QR codes? If you have a smart phone or iPad, go to the app store and download a QR code reader (I use RedLaser) for free. Then scan away! It’s so much fun!
It’s just in time for Holiday gift giving! To see and buy… CLICK HERE
Morning Seashells from Sanibel Lighthouse Courtesy Of Isaac
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Now this is what shelling after a storm should look like! Woop! Woop! Look at those LIGHTNING WHELKS and that HORSE CONCH! But hold on… I hate to get you too excited. So before you start envisioning piles of shells washed up by the load full in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac already, the shells really haven’t made it on the beach yet. They are still in the water. That’s how our buddy Donnie found all of these shells this morning. By the time I got to the Sanibel Lighthouse Beach at sunrise, Donnie had already scooped the goods. See? All by himself in the water with no other competition. LOL
There were a few FIGHTING CONCHS and usual suspects on the beach closer to the lighthouse point but not like Donnie’s finds.
So before I get to the beach again this afternoon when the tide starts to recede, I thought I’d go ahead and post these awesome photos so you will know what to expect when these beauties hit the shore. Need help identifying any of these shells? Click on my SEASHELL IDENTIFICATION page…
Gorgeous shells Donnie! Should I call you Awesome Sheller Donnie since “Super Sheller” is already taken? Or King Of The Dawn Donnie? Donnie The Cone King (He’s found over 140 since January)? Never mind, I got it!… Donnie, The Shell Dominator! LOL
I just heard that Blind Pass Captiva had some shells churning in the surf so it’s hard to decide where I’m gonna head first in an hour or so. Acckkk! So many places to shell and not enough time! If I find major shell piles forming, I’ll will send a quick TWEET or post on FACEBOOK then post again here ASAP. Happy Shelling!
Oh wait! I wanted to show you that in case you couldn’t figure out what that thing is in the top right corner… It’s a sea turtle shell bone. I found a piece yesterday too but mine doesn’t have that bone piece running through it. BLING!
Calm After The Tropical Storm On Sanibel
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After Tropical Storm Debby blew through Southwest Florida last week, things are now calm, the parking lots are cleaned up and I met lots of happy shellers enjoying the sunshine all weekend. I saw MANATEES that were even out socializing…
Remember Barbara from West Virginia who found the JUNONIA on my last post? She was back shelling near the jetty rocks at Blind Pass Captiva when two MANATEES swam right by her. Lucky Lady!
The big pile of shells near the jetty was completely gone but there were still a few keepers rolling in the surf. Candy from Cape Coral found a sweet little SHARK’S EYE…
On the Sanibel side of Blind Pass, there were lots of shellers finding FIGHTING CONCHS and WHELKS…
My dear friend Mary B (she is moving away soon so I’ll miss you Mary!) found a perfect tiny FLAT SCALLOP.
I loved talking to this next family from Ringwood New Jersey! Kevin, Alyssa, Kelly and Bailey have been coming to Sanibel for years and they Love Shelling! They just arrived when I was leaving so I hope they found some goodies.
My fave find of the weekend was this BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN BEAK BONE Super Sheller Clark picked up on the beach.
These are the holes where the teeth were on this side of its jaw bone!
Apparently, this is just one side of the mandible so this bottom right side was broken off the left side of its jaw.
In my research, I couldn’t find out what these holes are for in the next photo. They are definitely not from wear or from another animal so if I were to speculate, I’d say they were for sensory (?)…. but I wouldn’t bet on it. Do you know?
UPDATE : Thank you Karen S and Jeff B for letting us know that the holes in this DOLPHIN BEAK BONE are called “Mental Foramen”. They are the openings for the nerves and blood vessels to pass through….and we (humans) have them too. Again, THANK YOU KS and JB for your comments so we can all learn together!!
Beach Bling Is A Wonderful Thing
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If you want to learn the types of seashells, sea life, vegetation and what the different kinds of mollusk egg cases look like and live in the Gulf Of Mexico, you’ve got your chance this week. It all washed up on the beach on the East end of Sanibel.
You can see it for miles. So many mollusk egg casings and PEN SHELLS galore!
MERMAID PURSES! Well, they are really SKATE EGG CASES…
HORSE CONCH EGG CASINGS (I shot this with the Nikon J1)…
WHELK EGG CHAINS…
Lots of CRABS too. This one is a STONE CRAB…
My friend Jane called me and said she found a dead crab shell on the beach that had a NAUTILUS shell pattern. She has found a NAUTILUS before so she would know! Wanna see? CLICK HERE . So I went to see this crab…and it does have that pattern! It’s a FLAME BOX CRAB…
I also saw lots of SEA WHIPS. This was the first time I’ve ever found a WHITE SEA WHIP…
We normally just find the purple SEA WHIPS but when I went to see Jane’s FLAME BOX CRAB she showed me this bright yellow WHIP she picked up as well.
There were oodles of PURPLE SEA URCHINS also ( J1)…
I always get questions about the bones on the beach. They are from the bait in the crab traps… not random dead carcasses. LOL
I also get a lot of questions about this guy on the left. It’s a SEA CUCUMBER…
Don’t worry, I saw lots of shells too. Mainly, the double DOSINIAS.
Cyber Sheller Alert! This next photo is really big so you can do a little shelling and blinging…
Looking through all this BEACH BLING, there are little treasures that look like this so you have to look closely…
Some goodies were still washing in at the shoreline as well…
The big find was by Seth (FL)! He found this huge HORSE CONCH on the sand bar near Donax Rd. Here he is with Erin and Reese…
See? BEACH BLING is a wonderful thing… (J1)
PS- Some of you know I’ve been testing a new Nikon J1 camera. It isn’t very spontaneous but when I do catch a nicer shot than with my spontaneous, trusty, easy, clear Panasonic DMC…. I’ve noted it.
Boxes and Boxes of Sanibel Seashells
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Shells, shells and more shells. Leroy can’t get enough seashells!
He loves to walk the beaches of Sanibel to collect any type of shell he can find to bring home then clean, oil, categorize and box them all up in his garage. I see Leroy on the beaches quite a bit so he invited me over to see his collection.
He categorizes them at home AND he’s a volunteer at the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum to organize shell collections that are donated to the museum. See? He can’t get enough of shells. I got tickled at this next box since those gorgeous CONES were mixed together with all of the other ”UNIVALVES”. He said “I have a method to my madness… I just don’t have enough of those categories to have their own box yet since we just moved here 2 years ago”. Yep, that would take a lot of CONES to make enough for their own box… for sure!
He also likes to collect BEACH BLING! You know I love me some BEACH BLING too. This was my favorite in his collection… a PURSE CRAB that still had all of it’s legs attached.
This is kinda wild- ALLIGATOR GAR jaw bones…
Before he moved here, he used to collect GEODES from New Mexico…
He gave me a GEODE that was formed inside a fossil shell and a few yard shells. This is the first time I’ve seen a SEASHELL GEODE. Thank you so much for the tour, Leroy, and for my new “sheode”! (FYI-”sheode” is not a scientific name, I made that up- heehee)
Pretty Perfect Lion’s Paw
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Donnie wasn’t kidding when he commented “Bring it!” for the wanna-be shelling competition in my January 1st post. He went right out to Blind Pass Captiva and scooped up his first perfect little LION’S PAW this morning! Score! You win today Donnie- Congrats!
He must have snagged all the ALPHIES too because when I got there, I didn’t see a single piece of one in the whole big shell pile. He did miss this very cool piece of a DEER COWRIE though…
Christy (TN) found some beautiful WHELKS and started to fill her bag with other goodies too…
I saw lots of the Sanibel Six (minus the CONE) but mostly I loved this delicate FIG laying right on top of the pile untouched…
I always love to see people sharing their treasures. I caught Carolyn and Les (Fort Myers) admiring the shells together they just found.
I walked over to the Sanibel side to find hundreds of dead MULLET fish laying on the beach. Ugh. A casualty of Red Tide. Yuck.
I’ve heard that red tide has been really bad around the Sanibel lighthouse so I’ve stayed clear of the east end beaches the last week. I get that irritating cough when I breath it so it’s not worth it to me any more (I used to tough it out since “they” say it can’t hurt you). But it looks like it’s hit Captiva now too but I didn’t feel that tickle in my chest- whew.
I think this may be why Clark and I have found those big shells lately too. Could be from the red tide….. but don’t quote me on that. I’m only speculating since it’s not every day you find 3 (!) huuuuge shells like that in one day. I also found this cool skull…
When I found this, I thought it looked so cool and looked like a bird skull. Like an OSPREY or something but it’s not. It is some sort of fish.
Anybody know what kind of fish skull this is? It sort of has that CRUCIFIX SHELL look about it but definitely not the same.
Any way, there are lots of shells still coming in from this windy cold front and hopefully the red tide will go away in the next few days so I can enjoy the beach like I did with my girlfriends Jane, Sandy and Mary…
