Archive for Cayo Costa
Q-Tip for the Baby’s Ear
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve had more than a few people ask me where and how we are finding so many BABY’S EARS. So I’ve got a Quick Tip……a Q-Tip. teehee
Most of the time, they are upside down. So look for this shape….
Sanibel baby's ear
Appropriately named, huh?
Here’s a few pictures to show you why they blend in to easily. Be patient, you’ll get the eye.
Baby's ear blending in
Baby's ear hiding
Of course, they might be “head’s up” too, so look for this as well.
"Heads up" baby's ear
We’ve had most of our luck on the east end of Sanibel at the Lighthouse and on the east end Cayo Costa
Feeding Frenzy
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King's Crown ate a crab
This KING’S CROWN had a feast for lunch! Do you think he ate the claw too? I’m sure he did! He already ate the rest of the shell (?). These are the rest of the pictures from Easter but I was way too excited to blog about anything else but my big find of the 12″ WHELK. Sorry, you’ll probably get sick of me talking about that 12″ WHELK (heehee) so I’ll try to keep focused…..because these pictures are really cool!
Horse Conch seashell eats Lighning whelk
Isn’t this wild??? We saw many live shells that were eating other seashell species. They are so powerful that they just suck that other mullosk right out of their shell.
Horse Conch seashell lunches on whelk
This is how shallow the water was that he was found (and released) with his lunch.
Horse conch and king's crown
When you look into the shallow rippling water, some times you can’t really decipher what it is that you are about to pick up. Clark picked up this HORSE CONCH and this KING’S CROWN came with him. The HORSE CONCH had just sucked out the KING’S CROWN mullosk and spit the empty shell into Clark’s hand. Unbelievable.
Whelk egg casing in shallow water
I hope you can see what’s in this picture. It’s a very long and winding WHELK EGG CASING that looks like something from outer space. It looked like one end of this was dug into the sand. I’ve never seen a WHELK “birth” one of these casing so I’m not sure if they (she?) are under the sand when they do it or not. I wasn’t about to tug on it to find out. Remember, I’m far from a scientist and I don’t even play one on TV. 
Bright orange Horse conch
We ended up bringing home 13 KING’S CROWNS, a bunch of WORM SHELLS, a bright orange HORSE CONCH and of course, A TWELVE INCH WHELK.
What is it ?????
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Peanut Worm
Peanut Worm in shallow water
Clark and I boated out to North Captiva and Cayo Costa today and found this flopping around in the shallow water. What the heck is it? I was thinking it was a live ANGEL WING that had peeped out from it’s shell below but it’s a PEANUT WORM. We found lots of SUNRAY VENUS CLAMS so maybe that’s what the live mollusk looks like when he peeks out of his shell from below the surface. I didn’t dig it up (Yikes!) to find out so I’d love feedback, if anybody knows what it is (as “clean” as possible, please- haha!).
6" Sunray venus
It’s a monster! This was the biggest SUNRAY VENUS that we found today. I didn’t get a chance to clean it before I took this picture but most of that crud will come right off so it should be really pretty.
Brown baby's ears mixed with our other finds
We were very happy to find MACULATED BABY’S EARS today too. These are the brown ones that aren’t as common and have brown smears on them. The one to the right of the WENTLETRAP has spots on it. Also pictured….3 FALSE ANGEL WINGS, 2 RICE OLIVES, a BUBBLE, PEAR WHELK, and a baby LIGHTNING WHELK.
We didn’t find much by the tree roots on the south tip of Cayo Costa but we were still happy with our treasures we picked up on the way there.
"Turtle Shells"
Post Update 4/6/10……..Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum director Jose H. Leal identified the top picture as a sipunculid, also known as a PEANUT WORM. That’s a new one for me. So there was no shell underneath. Weird, huh?
Big Day on the Out Islands
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Our boat on North Captiva
We haven’t been able to go out on our boat in over 3 months since the weather on the weekends has been either too stinkin’ cold, windy or raining…. so yesterday we celebrated a beautiful boating day by going to North Captiva and Cayo Costa. Weeehooo! Finally! And to top it off? We found good shells too!
A worm shell! Yeah!
And a sand dollar!
Gracie (Aka- Pat) with a hand full of wormies, king's crowns, whelks and olives
On North Captiva, we were excited to find a few WORM SHELLS , 3 or 4 KING’S CROWNS and the SAND DOLLAR but it wasn’t enough to keep us there all day. We jumped back in the boat to enjoy our picnic lunch while we cruised north to Cayo Costa. On the way, we saw several pods of dolphin playing very close to the boat ( I missed that photo op! They are just too fast) and 2 bald eagles perched on tree branches on shore (no telephoto lens today- sorry!).
Hundreds of Cockle shells on Cayo Costa and a few Baby's Ears too
Loads of shells in the tree roots on Cayo Costa
Whelks, Olives, Conchs, Murexes, Cockles, Shark's Eyes, King's Crowns and baby Horse Conchs
Everybody finding treasures
My peeps! Clark, Gracie, Ted, and Ellen
By the end of the day, we all had an exceptional time cruising the waters, spotting wildlife, island hopping, and finding lots of seashell treasures to remind us how lucky we were to have this adventure.
