Archive for Crab
Low Tide Shells At Sanibel Causeway
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Pointed Venus Seashell
I found a few shells on the low tide flats off the Sanibel causeway but the ROSEATE SPOONBILLS in yesterday’s post Roseate Spoonbills at Sanibel Causeway Video really stole the show. I still want to show you this small POINTED VENUS bivalve I found, especially after Christine Kieffer wanted to know what kind of shells were out there.
There were quite a few with both valves still attached that were laying on top of the muck but when I picked them up to take a photo, I unintentionally broke them apart. Oops! Here’s the interior of this one but all of them didn’t have this dark purple. Some were plain white.
I didn’t find tons of shells but while I was filming the ROSEATES, my flip flops were getting sucked into the muck so I took them off to go barefoot and almost stepped on several little baby HORSESHOE CRABS. So as I had the camera pointed at the birds, I had to keep my eye on not stepping on the live critters. I even saw a few live MARGINELLAS…
I videoed the HORSESHOE CRABS since I got tickled with them scooting along trying to make me slosh around them. You’ll notice just a few empty shells here and there but the live critters were the real finds of the day.
To see the video…. CLICK HERE
As The Sanibel Sky Terns
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The Sanibel sky turned black with rain clouds and turned white SANDWICH TERNS soaring by. The sky was such a beautiful back drop for them.
There were ROYAL TERNS and LAUGHING GULLS joining in on the fun too.
We didn’t stay on the beach long since that sky looked a little frightful and we weren’t seeing loads of shells other than this cute little LACE MUREX (or lacie), a few WENTLETRAPS and minis.
Up high on the beach was a wide wrack line of what I call “beach bling”. Yes, I made up the phrase! Here’s my definition…. Beach Bling: noun- (beech-bling) 1. anything that washes up on the beach other than seashells. 2. Collectable and/or noncollectable debris washed up on any shore.
Doesn’t “Beach Bling” even make PARCHMENT WORMS sound better?
More Beach Bling in the wrack line like BLACK MANGROVE SEEDS which are the little split green lima bean looking things in this next photo…
…and the RED MANGROVE SEED PODS mixed in…
This baby BLUE CRAB shell would fall into this category too…
But still the best thing to watch was the beautiful birds soaring and swirling in the stormy sky. They definitely stole the show
…
Sunsets, Seashells and Shelling Sisters
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The week started out with beautiful sunset skies at the lighthouse beach with some serene Sanibel Stooping…..
Tiny shell finds….
Avery with a Sharp Ribbed Drill
Beautiful families with some Shelling Sistahs! ….
Avery, Caroline, Jim, McKenzie and Amy (Orlando)
Live critters….
A few keeper shells like this double JEWEL BOX Super Sheller Clark found….
Then I moved on to Middle Gulf Drive beaches to find more Shelling Sistahs! Weehoo!
Janet, Pam, Betty Jo
But Blind Pass has been the place to find the best finds of the week! Look who I saw again from the lighthouse beach but this time at Blind Pass finding KING’S CROWNS. McKenzie!
And her sister Avery was lucky enough to find a JUNONIA! Even part of one is lucky, I think. Great find Avery!
My buddies Susie and Ellen joined me at Blind Pass to see what all the fuss was about.
They found FIGHTING CONCHS, a PEAR WHELK and a few more.
Marie from Charleston was purrrrrrfectly satisfied with lots of kitten paws…
The shelling is so much fun right now because the tide is so far out you can walk on sand bars that are not normally showin….. especially at Blind Pass. On my last post Negative Low Tides, Positive Winners! , I didn’t really explain what a negative low tide chart looks like so I’ve added the chart for today and tomorrow. To get more information on the tides for future dates for Captiva, Sanibel and Cayo Costa, go to TIDES.
Shelling Marco Sand Bars
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Lightning whelk
I’m still exhausted from boating yesterday. Clark, friend Mary Jo and I “adventured” to take our boat down to the sand bars off Marco to do some shelling. The gulf was calm and flat for our hour and a half boat ride down (if only it had stayed that way). We pulled up to our first sand bar where I found this beautiful LIGHTING WHELK.
Marco sand bar
There was a nice shell wrack that looked very picked over but there were too many SUNRAY VENUS CLAMS to count. They are always so pretty when they are together.
Sunray venus clams
Then I thought I hit the jack pot….
Junonia piece
Only half of a JUNONIA but it was still fun to find it. Maybe I’ll make a necklace like Kathy.
Half of a junonia
I found a very nice size MOON SNAIL or NATICA which Mary Jo calls them.
Marco Moon snail
Mary Jo found a TUSK SHELL which is very tiny so you can see it would blend in with just about everything in the sand. I’ve only ever found one … I don’t have any eye for them yet.
Tusk shell
I found just one WENTLETRAP in what looks like coffee ground camo. There were a few RICE OLIVES in there too…. but wait! I just looked closer at this photo and there is a TUSK SHELL in this photo I didn’t even see.
wentletrap in sand
My best find of the day was this very different FLORIDA CONE. Look at the colors and stripes- wow!
Florida Cone marco
I met Ron from Marco out on this sand bar and he told me that he has found numerous JUNONIAS in the very same spot at daybreak. He has slept on his boat to get there first. He said he goes out there to fish but if the fish aren’t biting, he shells.
Ron (Marco)
You can see how narrow this bar is….
Mary Jo shelling
I won’t even tell you how many times we almost got stuck on the shallow flats. It’s not easy boating down there if you don’t know the waters (which we don’t). Then the boat ride back was 2 and a half hours back to the dock ….. the gulf was very choppy which makes the ride very intense (ugh). It was a beautiful day in Marco but I’m sure glad to be back on Sanibel. To be able to walk out on the beach to find incredible shells by the handful…. priceless.
Leopard Crab shell
Mary Jo and Clark in Marco
Sea Potato Heart Urchins
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Circle of Sanibel Beached Palm
Along with seashells and sealife, palm trees are even washing up on the beaches of Sanibel and Captiva.
Beached Palm Circle
I heard from blog friend Marcy that there were hundreds of SEA BISCUITS washing up on the east end of Sanibel. What? I’ve never seen SEA BISCUITS (they look like fat and puffy SAND DOLLARS) on this coast before, only in the upper Florida Keys. I ran down there and found these….
Potato or Heart Urchins
Tons of HEART URCHINS! This looks like a bunch of potatoes that just spilled out of a sack, right? That’s why they are also called SEA POTATOES. I’ve never seen so many HEART URCHINS washed up like this… or SEA URCHINS.
Purple Sea Urchin piled on beach
Hundreds of Purple Sea Urchins
I took this next picture because there were so many unusual sea critters all together in one place.
Beach critters
Let’s start with that huge STONE CRAB claw that’s laying on a PARCHMENT WORM, then clockwise is a PEANUT WORM (in the middle of the picture), a HEART URCHIN, HORSESHOE CRAB, a couple of SEA SPONGES, a PEN SHELL then the black blob is SEA PORK (not an oil tar ball!!!)
Sanibel Beachcombing
Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Sunset on seashells
Manatee Grass and Hermit Crabs
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Manatee grass
It looks like julienned coconuts, parmesan cheese or some sort of spaghetti, doesn’t it? There are wash lines of MANATEE GRASS at the tip of the lighthouse beach. We finally had a beautiful day so I needed to get out on the beach whether there were shells or no shells. Unfortunately, not many keepers. There were clam shells and scallops and that’s about it for shells.
Tree roots at the lighthouse
And the SHARK’S TOOTH frenzy in Manasota Key continues! Our friends Joe and Manuela took a day trip down to Stump Pass and found their first shark’s teeth……83 of them.
Shark Tooth Joe (Ft Myers)
I have another video for you! I didn’t do fancy editing or add any music this time. It’s just a raw piece that shows exactly what I saw for 5 minutes. A hermit crab took a new home in a KING’S CROWN and was so happy that he was doing the happy dance …. Another crab in a MUREX shell peeking out .. .A pelican flying so low he was teasing the water…. the sky so rich. Enjoy.
Big, scary Hurricane Earl is headed toward the east coast and already stirring up the waters on our side so we are keeping a close eye on the weather and keeping our fingers crossed that he just fizzles out before any damage occurs.
Only 3 more days to enter Write From The Beach GiveAway! Pass the word- click here!
