Hairy Triton

I was on the beach near Gulf Side City Park at 7 a.m. to catch the negative .7 low tide. The first person I saw was my friend Julie. She is an avid sheller but I’ve never run into her on the beach before since she always shells in the early mornings. Now that I’ve put on my big girl panties and get out to see the sunrise over the seashells (at times), I see different people. I’m so glad I ran into her because I was very excited to see a shell I’ve never seen before….. A HAIRY TRITON.

Hairy Triton aperture

It has so much hair, to me it looks like a werewolf  ROCK SNAIL . Julie reassured me it was a HAIRY TRITON because her husband had found one a few years ago and entered it into the Sanibel Shell Fair and Show. Here’s Julie holding her rare treasure!…..

Julie (Sanibel)

Okay, I have to show you a close up of the “hair” on this shell.

Hairy Triton close up

That’s wild, huh?

Teresa and Alexandra (Indianapolis)

I met other avid shellers Teresa and Alexandra combing the beaches filling their bags with all sorts of goodies.

Alexandra with her shell collection

Today Alexandra was collecting BUTTERCUP  LUCINES and EGG COCKLES. Shell crafters love those BUTTERCUPS for making shell flowers and I even saw a Christmas tree made with BUTTERCUPS this year.

Buttercup seashells

Maybe I don’t pay enough attention to the bivalves as I should so I didn’t know the name of the EGG COCKLE. I don’t see them often…. is it just me?

Velvet Egg Cockle

It was obviously an exciting morning to be at the beach. Enjoy the rest of the scenery…

Golden Sanibel Sunrise

True tulip (live and put back in the water)

Cockle shells at sunrise