Archive for Flat Zigzag Scallop
The Jewels Of The Jetty
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All along the jetty rocks at Captiva’s Blind Pass, there are still bucketfuls of shell jewels to be found at low tide. It was so much fun seeing Michelle of Buckingham, Florida wading and working the water to pluck out so many beautiful gems. She found a shellacious ALPHABET CONE and too many other perfect shells to count! I also saw Steve and Karen (MI) with their grandsons Noah and Josh from Lakeland, FL with a tons of shells ready to pack up in the car after a great afternoon shelling. It was really good to see you guys again and seeing you had another successful day at Blind Pass.
Mark had lots of great luck finding shells with his snorkel gear! He and his mom Brenda were so cute enjoying everything there was to enjoy about looking for shells. They get it! It’s a treasure hunt! If the shells aren’t on the beach, you’ve got to get in the water to look for them.
Then I met the rest of the family and fell in love with every one of them. Here’s (clockwise) Brenda, Mark (Mark Senior … but lets just call him BigMark), Mark, Conner, Renee, and Aiden. See? Happiness.
And they had major success! This is just a few of their jetty jewels…
Over the weekend, Clark and I hit just about every beach and had success at each one but only brought few home (there’s only so many shells one can find room for!). This FLAT SCALLOP Clark found is our favorite shell that made the cut. I actually think this one is the prettiest one we have in all of our collection. I didn’t get a chance to take a close up but it is rich purple with a detailed line then light purple on the bottom.
Everybody always asks me where they can find SAND DOLLARS but like all shelling, it’s timing, tides, currents and just being darn lucky. Our friend Mary was lucky at the Sanibel Causeway Beach where she found this SAND DOLLAR. Wow! I had no idea SAND DOLLARS were there. Something surprising every day.
Okay, one more surprise. At dusk last night at the Lighthouse Beach…. we saw a SCREECH OWL! He was in the parking lot right next to the beach path. Can you see him?
Hmmmm. Where’s your sticker or hang tag, dude?
Tarpon Beach Top Shelf Shells
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These shells are the cream of the crop! This is any shellers dream to find a handful of shells like this. I’m talking… not just a TULIP… but a gorgeous nice size red TRUE TULIP. And not just a FLORIDA CONE, but a deep orange FLORIDA CONE with a purple tip. That PEAR WHELK is so yellow! And that size HORSE CONCH? Not so easy to find. And as you can see, I could go on. I just can’t believe I haven’t spent more time at Tarpon Beach (at the end of Tarpon Bay Rd on the Gulf side). It’s been a gold mine the last few weeks! Laura and Ken from CT were shelling with their family Jaime and Matthew who live in Fort Myers hit the right spot…
Matthew told me the whole family has been shelling for over 20 years on Sanibel so they know what to look for and knew they had some top shelf shells.
And they love to search the water!
The water wasn’t the only place there were shells. The WENTLETRAPS are there as well. You can see this one trying to hide in the sand…. sorry buddy! I see you!
I was so surprised to find a BABY’S EAR too…
Clark and I also hit Sanibel’s Blind Pass this weekend too. There are lots of shells still on the canal side of the pass under the bridge.
That’s where we met Jude from NY decked out in her skin suit to cover up from the harmful rays of the sun. Hey Judy, that’s pretty smart! (I couldnt resist)
She was thrilled with her finds! She found everything from WORM ROCK to a DOUBLE ALTERNATE TELLIN to a COCKLE full of minis…
Right under the bridge, Janet from Sanibel (too shy for me to take her picture!) found this awesome FLAT SCALLOP.
Clark and I found a few goodies this weekend that we’ve never found before! I get so excited to find something new! I hate to be a little bit of a tease but I have to get some good pictures of them then I’ll show you our finds tomorrow. Okay, okay…. I’ll give you a hint on our finds. The one I found is a shell that’s a little rounded on the TOP. The one Clark found isn’t a shell but it protects a MOLLUSK but not SHARKS.
Stopping For Seashells- A Marco Island Day Trip
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Since we knew we’d be gone for the entire day, Clark and I packed up a cooler, snacks and a change of clothes to head for Marco Island, Florida for a day trip from Sanibel. Clark’s Rotary Club had an event in south Marco that we wanted to attend (he is still President – so proud of him!) so we figured if we had time on the way home, we’d stop at a beach. We did! We stopped at Tigertail Beach!
This is the very first time we’ve been on this beach so we had to get the lay of the land by looking at the map (above). We decided to wade through the little lagoon to get to the gulf side beach on the other side…
On my way over, I saw Jonathan and Rachel carrying handfuls of SAND DOLLARS…
Wow! They said they found them all along the beach in the surf line…Cool!
So wading through the lagoon and down a sweet beach path we went… to find our first treasures from the Gulf Of Mexico.
All I started seeing was ROSE PETAL TELLINS! I love them!
And double SUNRAY VENUS CLAMS…
We could not find any SAND DOLLARS but that’s okay because we found so many other goodies like these two FLAT SCALLOPS. Clark’s beautiful orange one is on the left, and I found the larger perfect (heehee) purple one on the right. I call them “FLATS” but they are really called ZIGZAG SCALLOPS .
Clark found the prettiest PURPLISH SEMELES!
We both found CANCELLATE SEMELES as well…
I was thrilled with all of the multi colored JINGLE SHELLS and those ROSE PETAL TELLINS!
From Tigertail Beach in Marco, Florida traveling back by car to Sanibel Island it took us about 1 and 1/2 hours by way of interstate 75…
We didn’t even get there until after 4 pm and we stayed about 3 1/2 hours to have a wonderful evening exploring a new beach.
I am so glad we had the time to stop and take our time to walk down to the north end of the spit. It took us an hour and 1/2 each way so I’m so glad we had plenty of water and thank goodness we always have shelling supplies and sunscreen in the car at all times. This was our loot we brought home… and yes, Super Sheller Clark found that gorgeous ALPHABET CONE I put right smack in the middle of our fabulous collection. Thanks Tigertail!
Join us on our next trip tomorrow, Saturday April 12, as we are taking a shelling cruise to explore the island of Cayo Costa! Clark and I will show you where to find the hidden treasures of that beautiful island… CLICK HERE.
Early Bird Catches the Seashell Candy
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There are lots of shells at Blind Pass Captiva! Actually I’ve heard there are shells all along Sanibel too at morning low tide but I’m so happy I went to Blind Pass because I met Katie from Kansas who found all of the gorgeous shells in the photo above. Look at that huge, shiny BANDED TULIP and huge TURKEY WING she is holding! Here she is with her dad Mark…
I saw Dave and Peg from Cincinnati…
who showed me their incredible shells. Okay, normally I would be whooping it up about that perfect ALPHABET CONE (which deserves a big whoop!) but I could not take my eyes off that orange… yes, orange… FLAT SCALLOP! I rarely see them wash up that color so it’s exceptional that it’s so perfect and that dang big too! Congratshellations you guys!
I went to some other beaches late in the afternoon to see if the shells were like this as well…
But the tide was so high that it had covered most of the shell piles. So it looks like if you want to find shells like this right now…
you have to be shelling at low tide in the mornings.
The early bird catches the candy!
PS- No, I never found that ALPHABET CONE I thought I saw in my last video. Darn! But it was fun trying.
Santa’s Seashell Good List
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We were shellebrating the season on the beach at Blind Pass Captiva today! We must have been on Santa’s “Good” list this year because he gave us the best gifts of all… gifts from the sea. Seashells!
Lots of seashells!
But wait… let me back up because the shells weren’t there all day so let me show you how quickly Mother Nature (maybe Santa too?) can do her/his magic.I arrived at Blind Pass this morning at 8 a.m. bundled in layers of clothes to ward of the 46 degree cold northwest winds. BRRRRR! That’s cold for us! I found a few scattered COCKLES, FLIGHTING CONCHS and PEN SHELLS along the high tide line and pocketed three beautiful shells… a KNOBLESS FIGHTING CONCH, GIANT BITTERSWEET and a funky orange CALICO SCALLOP…
There was nothing to speak of along the jetty rocks so I thought I’d amuse myself by waving to say hello to the camera since my shadow was the only thing in the picture (I know, I’m a dweeb). See? No real shells to write home about…
So I left around 9 a.m. (played tennis) and came back around 12:45 to find all of these shells piled up! In that short time span, thousands of shells rolled up along side those jetty rocks!
Probably only an hour after I left, Lucky lady Glenda from England plucked the king of shells, a JUNONIA, right out of all those shells! And you won’t believe it… her husband Richard found a rare QUEEN HELMET!
So you know what that means… the “KING” and “QUEEN” will find their way back to England soon. LOL Congratshellations, to the royal couple!
As soon as I walked onto that shell pile, Dawn snagged an ALPHABET CONE out of an incoming wave…
Then she showed me 3 HORSE CONCHS she just collected as well. Candy!!!
Michelle and Eric were on Santa’s Good list too!
I took this photo when I first saw them and I know they bucketed a few more ALPHIES, HORSIES and BITTERSWEETS but take a look at her JUNONIA (“cob”), part of a LION’S PAW and that gorgeous FLAT SCALLOP (lots of those found today!)…
I don’t think there is anything more fun than witnessing a pile of seashells being formed on the beach. It is mind boggling that within 4 hours, thousands of treasures can be washed up by the waves of the Gulf Of Mexico. More photos coming soon!
It’s A Flat Out Scallop Valve
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I’ve never thought much about those beautiful FLAT SCALLOPS we find on the Sanibel beaches beyond their beautiful colors, their patterns and how unusual their shape is…. which is very… uhhh… flat. I’ve always called it a FLAT but now that I think about it, I’m not really sure if I made that up or not (I do that a lot- oops). I think most shellers call it a FAN SHELL or more appropriately, the ZIGZAG SCALLOP which is what the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum calls it.
But remember, a SCALLOP is a BIVALVE … it has two valves. So think about it, both sides to this SCALLOP can’t be flat. Hmmmm… Why don’t we find the other side? A couple of weeks ago Clark and I were visiting Naples with some friends so while walking the beach Clark picked up a SCALLOP and showed it to me.
It wasn’t a FLAT, CALICO SCALLOP, ROUGH SCALLOP and def not a LION’S PAW. My first instinct was that it was a non-native species so I told him that someone probably bought shells from the store to spread on the beach for a wedding or party. That’s how most shells that aren’t native to this area end up in someone’s shell bag … thought of as a rare shell. I put it in my pocket any way to maybe research it later.
When I went to the Shell Museum to have Dr Jose Leal look at the FULGURATOR OLIVE, I took this shell too. Yes! He said it was the right valve of a FLAT! Our first one ever! He told me that since the convex shape of this valve is so inflated, it catches the water current differently than the flat valve so it travels in a different direction. Look at the bulge on this baby…
Notice that I didn’t say that he positively identified this as a ZIGZAG SCALLOP valve. Dr Leal said this could actually be a RAVENELI SCALLOP which is a very similar shell that has a flat valve and a convex valve…. but whichever it is, I’m very tickled to have finally seen the other half of a FLAT (I’m sticking with calling it just a plain old FLAT). I just want to find one like Super Sheller Clark. Way to go Clark! Do they show up more in Naples and Marco? hmmmm. Have you seen them on any other SouthWest Florida beach?
One quick message about the shelling this week… The beach by the jetty rocks at Blind Pass Captiva wasn’t showing many shells but I heard you had to get in the water to find anything. I walked down the beach to the point in the next photo and found lots of OLIVES and a few other good shells rolling the in the surf line. It was pretty good!
We went to the Lighthouse Beach Last night but didn’t find gobs of shells in the water. I didn’t look up in the high tide wrack line… which I have a feeling I would have found more shells but I am happy with just the few I found that weren’t occupied. Always happy to find candy but I think I might go back to Bowman’s and head towards Blind Pass.. that’s been the best spot for us lately!
PSSSSST. Click on the next image to enter our GiveAway!
UPDATE: GiveAway is OVER.
