Archive for Colorful Moon shell
Cockles, Conchs and Quahogs
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After several weeks of east winds, the west winds have finally arrived to drive some shells on to our beaches. Today was only the first day of the westies but since it was a really low tide this morning, I figured I’d find some goodies. It’s always a good day when you find an ALPHABET CONE and you’ve got to see just how darn cute this little juvie HORSE CONCH is…
I couldn’t believe I found this ANGEL WING sitting in the high wrack line…
I love when I find shells like this BANDED TULIP lying on the beach like this.
Tonya, Beth and Max from Ohio had their bags filled with all sorts of treasures.
Wanna look in their shell bags? I sure wanted to too! COCKLES and CONCHS and CLAMS…
Max found this live LIGHTNING WHELK in the high tide wrack line so he walked it down to the water and gently put it in the water. Good for you Max! You helped save this beauty.
I found local Sanibel sheller Lynn walking her very happy standard poodle Alexander with a pocket full of seashell treasure too.
Look at those pretty those COLORFUL MOON shells along with those candies and a mini TURE TULIP.
There was all sorts of bivalves scattered along the beach. I found this ATLANTIC COCKLE, PONDEROUS ARK and SOUTHERN QUAHOG together on the beach just like this…
This is the biggest DARK CERITH I’ve ever found. It’s one and a half inches long!
I was pretty pleased with what we all were finding on the beach near Donax Street today after the first day of west winds. Tomorrow might be even better!
Weekend in Paradise
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The weekend started with a spectacular sunset painting the sky with brilliant hues of reds, yellows, blues and even purple.
We figured this was a great sign to get out on the water in our boat to search for treasure. We found it!
And I found three MOONS! … a BABY’S EAR MOON, a SHARK’S EYE MOON, a COLORFUL MOON SHELL…
Clark found a huge empty TRUE TULIP on one of the mud flats around North Captiva…
There was a wrack line of shells on Cayo Costa…
There were hundreds… no, I think there were thousands of SOUTHERN SURF CLAMS littering the beach…
Here are a few all cleaned up…
Here’s a close up of the SOUTHERN SURF CLAM since I’ve never shown them before. This would be a great shell for shell crafting!
We found most of our keepers on the beach but other than Clark’s big TULIP, we only found these little FLY SPECK CERITHS on the mud flats…
We had heard there was red tide moving onto the Cayo Costa area but we didn’t feel that irritating tickle in the chest and had no “red tide cough”. We did see a few dead fish which was kind of creepy at first but then it seems we can always find something cool about any beach drift.
A few more treasures from our weekend in paradise…
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
Seashell In My Pocket
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Nutmeg in Nancy's pocket
“I always have a seashell in my pocket.”
This is what Nancy from Minnesota told me yesterday after she pulled this NUTMEG out of her pocket and told me it was so much better than a “worry stone”. She has been vacationing on Sanibel and Captiva for 20 years with the same foursome… she and her husband Dayton and their best shelling buddies Nancy and Gary.
Dayton's moon snail from his pocket
Then Dayton pulled out a COLORFUL MOON SNAIL from his pocket.
Sandy's Lettered Olive from her pocket
This is Sandy’s LETTERED OLIVE from her pocket. So smooth and shiny!
Gary's bright, beautiful pocket collection
Look at all that CANDY! I’m not sure Gary carries all of these orange beauties in his pocket all the time but those candy corn horsie conchs and that true tulip are worth showing off !
Gary, Sandy, Nancy, Dayton (Minnesota)
PS- How do you think that I knew they were crazy shellers? LOL They say that they all suffer from “shell sickness”. Me too!
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Red Branch Coral?
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Chris's red coral or sponge
Chris and Sarah picked up this vibrant piece of beach treasure and thought it was a little piece of red branch CORAL. As you can see, it has the shape and branches like coral and so full of color. This is a very cool find…..but….I actually think this is a red SPONGE. I’m not sure it will last long (at times they turn to goo, fall apart or lose their color) but still, it’s beautiful and it’s fun to see different gifts from the sea.
Chris, Sarah and baby Logan (Crawfordsville, Indiana)
Colorful Moon shell and Kings Crown
Clark found this not-so-pretty nice sized KINGS CROWN at the lighthouse beach this weekend. Whether they have barnacles, slime, algae or worn spines, I still like them if nobody has made a home of it and clean them up. Most of the time, I can make them beautiful again by using old dental tools to pick off the barnacles, a tooth brush or scrub brush, and just a tad of bleach to get rid of the algae. I thought I’d shock you when I showed you a before and after picture when I started on the clean up. I started picking….. cleaning…… scrubbing….. errrrrr…… a little better….. back to cleaning…….. hmmmmm. Well, this is the best that this shell is going to get for me right now.
Semi-cleaned up King's Crown
Not too much of a shocker but it was still worth a try. The other side looks pretty good.
Cleaned King's Crown
We have our fair share of King’s Crowns, so when we go back to the lighthouse, we will return this where we found it so that someone else might be able to enjoy it too.
Sanibel Shelling on Memorial Weekend
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Colorful moon snail
The moon was full and the low tides were in the early evening this weekend so it was a perfect time to get out and see Mother Nature on the beaches of Sanibel Island. This COLORFUL MOON SNAILwas about 2 1/2 inches round and so beautiful….but I didn’t get to bring it home because he was still alive and well…. that’s a good thing.
apple murex egg case
Last week I posted a picture of an APPLE MUREX mound then MurexKen commented on that post to let us know that it was a female laying eggs. Now, look what I found! This is what those eggs look like with some of the murexes still surrounding them.
Murex egg case
I found another smaller egg case too with only one murex still on it. Not sure if this is the female still laying more eggs but if so, where did all of her men go to?? Did she run them off?
King's crown with egg case
We hit the jackpot when we found this perfect KING’S CROWN in a shallow low tide pool on the east end. When we picked it up, we realized that it was still alive…. but more importantly, she was laying eggs too! She found an old FIGHTING CONCH and decided this would be a perfect place to “birth her babies” 
. We gently put her back in the water where we found her so she could go about her way. We may not have been able to keep that gorgeous shell but just seeing Mother Nature in progress was hitting that jackpot for us.
Cathy (Orlando, FL)
Cathy from Orlando had her cup over-floweth with CALICO SCALLOPS, WHELKS, MUREXES and other treasures. She said she loves to come for weekends to go shelling any chance she gets. It was a beautiful Memorial Day holiday weekend for her to choose.
Low tide shelling
