Archive for Purplish Tagelus
Beautiful Buried Treasures
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Gabriel found this live STARFISH (BROWN SPINY SEA STAR) on a PEN SHELL at low tide late this morning at the Sanibel Lighthouse beach. His whole family came over to look at it and to ohhh and ahhh so I had to find out what the fuss was about. It’s just beautiful, isn’t it? Yes, I mean the STARFISH is beautiful but also to hear the excitement and amazement of finding life and treasures that come from the sea. That’s beautiful too.
Gabriel, Danielle, Peggy, Paul and Mark
It was such a pleasure to meet this family! They were trying to learn the names of all the shells they were finding so I was thrilled to help them. This was our best find…. an ALPHABET CONE that was semi buried in the sand.
I don’t have photos of all the shells we were finding but here are some of the shell they found that I help identify…
Oh how I’ve missed my walks at the lighthouse beach on Sanibel. Ever since the day light savings time change, I’ve been discombobulated. I like my walks with Clark in the evening but now it gets dark too early for me to wait until he gets home from his office. But now after meeting such an amazing family on the beach today, it got me right in my beach combing time zone again. Here are a couple of my finds….
Most of my finds today were half buried in the sand like this half buried perfect ANGEL WING.
This LIGHTNING WHELK was perfectly empty too but I almost missed it since only this much of it was showing. More buried treasure.
This morning started off my weekend with a smile so I hope I can pass it along to you too. Have a great weekend!
This Weekend Rocked
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My friend Diane joined Clark and me on the beach off West Gulf Drive yesterday for a lovely afternoon of shell seeking. We wanted to find a big WHELK like last week but she was just as happy with a candy HORSIE CONCH.
She was even happier to find 9 BABY’S EARS…
Then to top it all off she framed her Sanibel Six in a very creative MANGROVE SEED POD picture frame.
I met another blog buddy Candice from St Pete! She saw Clark with his shelling backhoe and asked him “Are you Clark?” LOL
She said she wasn’t finding much, so I walked with her just for a few minutes and we found a few goodies… 3 ALTERNATE TELLINS, a PURPLISH TAGELUS, COQUINA, FALSE ANGEL WING, 2 CONCHS, a LACE MUREX, a TURBAN and a beautiful BABY’S EAR.
All of Candice’s shells were found on the high and dry wrack line on the far right of this next picture. On the sand bars, there were hundreds of FIGHTING CONCHS and a few bigger shells…
Aha! That’s where the big WHELK was that we were looking for. Jennifer (Sanibel) had already found that prize AND three ALPHIES!
Nice finds, Jennifer!
Clark didn’t find another big WHELK but he did find a huuu-jahh piece of WORM ROCK. He knows this is another fave of mine. It doesn’t look like anything fabulous in this photo but trust me, it’s cool. This is a rock formed by a colony of VARIABLE WORM SNAILS (not exactly the same thing as my “wormie shells” we find) and it’s not every day for us to find it this big.
Look at it close up…
Rock on and have a happy Monday!
i Love Shelling In A Pink Tutu
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I am so glad I didn’t wear my pink tutu to the beach shelling yesterday because I know I wouldn’t have looked this stinkin cute. Clare (CT) was workin her adorability showing us all how to look good picking up shells. Such a little cutie petutie! I’ll have to think twice before I break out my tutu again after seeing how well it can be worn…… and the fashion police might lock me up for good. 
So after seeing Clare, I had pink on the brain and fell in love with this pretty little pink SCALLOP shell.
And guess who else I saw…. Penny from Jupiter (in the pretty pink shorts) with her friend Faye.
Penny found this “pinkish” PURPLISH TAGELUS half….
I ran down to Blind Pass Captiva side today to see what kind of shells were there and to see if there were any changes since last week. Of course there were changes!
I’m not sure when all that seaweed floated it but it was nice to see that ledge wasn’t still there that I showed 2 weeks ago (to see click here).
I found sisters Cheryl (NJ) and Cindy (IL) sittin’ and siftin’ for shells in that pile that has come and gone a few times high on the beach. They were finding good shells! This was Cindy’s bucket filling up with OLIVES, CONCHS, pink SCALLOPS and yes, that’s a FLORIDA CONE right on top.
This was Cheryl’s shell bag with a perfect little pink FLAT SCALLOP, a NUTMEG, plenty of CALICO CLAMS, KITTEN’S PAWS and more pink CALICO SCALLOPS….
Okay yes, I had a short little affair with pink but you know what is my true love and gives me huge warm and fuzzies when I see it? Aqua! Especially when it’s an i Love Shelling tee shirt on some cutie Shelling Sistahs surrounded by aqua and seashells! Oh, can it get much better?
Jeri, Lori and Candy (Spokane, WA)
ABCs Of Alphabet Cones
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Eileen's Alphabet Cone
I doubt you recognize this APLHABET CONE ….. but I posted a picture of this seashell in February. This is the same gigantic gunked up CONE in my post The Alphabet On A Cone Shell that filled “shelling sistah” Eileen’s hand. Here’s the “before” picture…..
Eileen's Very Large Alphabet Cone
It cleaned up pretty nicely, huh? I joked that this ALPHABET CONE was so big it probably spelled the whole alphabet on it. Did you know sometimes the patterns on them really look like letters?
Words on an alphabet cone
I have proof that each letter of the alphabet has been found on these shells from a display by Amy and Bill Tripp at this year’s 74th Sanibel Shell Fair and Show. Check out this video from the Shell Fair in March (and then I’ll show you more photos)…….
It is so much fun seeing all those letters! Thank you Amy and Bill for making such a great display for those of us who love, love, love ALPHABET CONES!
Robert and Eileen (PA)
So after all that, guess who I saw on the beach visiting from PA again! Robert and Eileen…. looking for more CONES.
Robert digging for cones
He was so smart by digging around this buried crab trap near Sundial Beach Resort hoping to find another monster shell. There are lots of good shells that roll up and get stuck near any buried objects. He didn’t find a big CONE but he did find TULIPS, MUREXES, OLIVES and CONCHS.
Eileen's Purplish Tagelus
She found this perfect PURPLISH TAGELUS. They aren’t rare for this area but I always think they are a very nice find.
Low tide local shellers Sarah and JB
We also ran into long time Sanibel locals Sarah and JB looking for beach treasures. They know all the ins and outs of the islands since they publish the Sanibel Captiva Handbook. Sarah is showing off a beautiful PAPER FIG she found. Cute!
Sanibel locals Sarah and JB
I’m Tellin’ On Some Tellins
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White Crested Tellin
The island seashell telegraph was buzzing yesterday with the news that a rare WHITE CRESTED TELLIN was found by our shelling friend Nancy (see her on post Seashell In My Pocket) while she was shelling the out islands with her husband Dayton and their best friends Gary and Sandy. Look at the cool serrated edges on this shell- those aren’t chips. This photo only shows the one side of the shell…the other side is attached as well! They took it to the shop Sanibel Seashell Industries and he said it was a rare find.
Rose Petal Tellins
Gary found all of these ROSE PETAL TELLINS out on the out islands too. They got out there by hiring shelling guide Brian Holaway to take them out near North Captiva and Cayo Costa.
Yellow Alternate Tellin
I think it’s the prettiest yellow ALTERNATE TELLIN I’ve ever seen. Guess who found this. Nancy! She was a hawk eye out on those flats. This shell looks similar to a COQUINA in this picture but it’s about an inch bigger.
Alternate Tellins
These are the color that these TELLINS normally are. Nice… but can’t really compare to that yellow!
Nancy's Scotch Bonnet
Brian surely did not disappoint this crowd. Nancy found this SCOTCH BONNET too!! This was her first time she has found a SCOTCH BONNET and she said Brian seemed just as excited as she was.
Morton's Egg Cockle
They all found MORTON’S EGG COCKLES which are another shell crafter favorite since the inside is such a bright yellow. I forget the variety, but to me, they look like orchid petals. Please help me if you know what orchid I’m thinking of.
Purplish Tagelus
The shelling continued with PURPLISH TAGELUS shells.
Sandy's wentletrap
Sandy found this super big WENTLETRAP and lots of BABY’S EARS. You wouldn’t believe the bags and bags of goodies the whole gang brought back.
Bags of shells
They all could not get over how much fun they had and how many shells they found with Brian as their guide ( click HERE for info on Brian). Congrats to you all and thanks for sharing your goodies.
Gary, Sandy, Nancy and Dayton (MN) from October
