Archive for Kitten’s Paw
Constricted Shelling Seems Like An Oxymoron
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When I am shelling on the beach, the rest of the world melts away. My breathing gets easier because my body loosens up and my whole outlook widens. To think of anything that is constricted about shelling seems like an oxymoron to me. Constricting and shelling are contradictory words! That’s why I was surprised to find this CONSTRICTED MACOMA mixed in with oodles of ALTERNATE TELLINS around West Gulf Dr.
This one looked so different because it looked like the sun melted one side of it. I couldn’t find a match in any of my books to identify it but MurexKen assures me it is the CONSTRICTED MACOMA. I wonder what it is so constricted about? I would have called it the MELTED MACOMA or MELTY TELLIN… but who asked me, right?
Quit constricting, MACOMA!
Relax like some of your other relatives, the ALTERNATE TELLINS…
…and like some of my buddies when we get together to enjoy just hanging out on the beach and shelling…
Nancy, Sarah, Jodi, Toni, Di, Ellen and Me
Toni had a theme going… KITTEN’S PAWS in a kitten’s paw bag.
Cyber Shelling Bivalves
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How could anyone think KITTENS PAWS aren’t cute? It was like it had rained KITTEN’S PAWS yesterday since there were so many on the beach at Blind Pass Captiva. Here’s a cyber shelling photo so you can virtually pick through the piles and find some yourself. Enjoy!
Also mixed in were hundreds of TRANSVERSE ARKS…
Oodles of CROSS BARRED VENUS clams…
And a few LADY-IN-WAITING VENUS clams mixed in too…
I would say that the KITTEN’S PAWS, CROSS BARRED VENUS and the TRANSVERSE ARKS are the most common shells on Sanibel but I’m still not convinced what the top six commons shells are. I just loved seeing so many LADY-IN-WAITING VENUSes mixed in too, I wanted to show you those. They are so pretty and I normally never pay attention to them. When I don’t have a lot of time, I need to stay out of the sun for a bit or we are having lots of scattered showers, I just like to stop by the beach for a short time and enjoy all of the shells that I seem to neglect the rest of the year. Most of the shells in this next photo are all bivalves…. they did not let me neglect them this time.
PS- I have no idea how that board got there. I guess it washed up?
Miniature Seashell Zone
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Top row- Pear whelk, Drill, Dwarf olive, Bubble (above), Keyhole Limpet, Tusk, Wentletrap. Bottom row- Auger, Coquina, Murex, Fighting conch
Shelling is just like life…. look beyond the obvious and you will find something beautiful and extraordinary. I always feel a calmness come over me when I search for the mini shells. When I begin to focus on all the different wash lines of the beach, I feel myself zone everything else out.
Wentletrap in tidal pool
One weedy wash line leads me to another line of sticks, broken shells and what looks like mulch. See that little WENTLETRAP among all that “mulch”? I tried to keep that bubbly foam in the photo so you could tell how it was in about 2 inches of water.
Tidal pools at sunset
I come out of the shelling zone every once in a while to soak in how beautiful this time of day is here on the beach at the lighthouse. Calming.
Tusk shell in sand
Then I go into the shelling zone again and remember to look for TUSK shells too. Can you even spot the TUSK shell?
Tusk shell on my finger
I didn’t actually mean to focus on the sand instead of my finger but I’m kinda glad you got to see how big (or I should say how “little”) the TUSK shell is AND to see what the area looked like where I found it.
Sanibel lighthouse miniature shells
These are some of the same shells as the first picture but there’s also a CANTHARUS (top left with barnacles on it), 2 KITTENS PAWS, BARNACLES, a BABY’S EAR (broken), a TURBAN and 2 CROSS BARRED VENUS clams.
“Sometimes the treasures we take from the beach are the friends we meet there~” quote by Carla Barone…
Gerry (New Hampshire) with a sea whip
Chris (IL) collecting minis
The Alphabet On A Cone Shell
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Very Large Alphabet Cone
Holy Spelling Bee, Batman! This is the largest ALPHABET CONE I’ve ever seen come off the beach. It’s so big….I’m sure this one has the whole alphabet….. twice …on this beauty (heehee).
Eileen's Alphabet cone
I met Eileen and Rob coming off the beach on Sanibel’s side of Blind Pass (Turner Beach) and Eileen told me she found this humongo ALPHABET out in the water where the beach is forming a little sand tip (I’ll show you a picture of where in a minute) early this morning. As you can see in the first picture, it has some gunk still on it but I think this baby will clean up easily with a little tooth brush action using a little bleach and water. If they send pictures after its cleaned up (my fingers are crossed), I’ll share them with you as well.
Eileen and Rob (PA)
Eileen and Rob have a Sanibel shelling trip planned for March but Rob told me he couldn’t wait another month since Eileen has been watching the happenings on the beaches and talking about my blog every day (really, he said that ! 
…blush… blush.. I’m so flattered!) so he booked another trip this month to give to Eileen for Valentine’s Day. Awwww. What a Valentine! And then to find this awesome shell… wow… doesn’t get much better than that.
Collecting seashells on the "tip" of Sanibel's Blind Pass
This is where Eileen found her ALPHABET CONE. I took this photo from the Sanibel side looking towards Captiva. You can see a tiny piece of the jetty of Captiva on furthest right side of the horizon. While I was there I met some other shelling sisters!
Ann (Minnesota)
Ann was so sweet to run back to her car after we met to bring me some of her handmade aromatherapy “melts”. Thank you, Ann, they smell sooo good! Here are her seashell finds and while you check out her shells, check out her nails too..nice….
Ann's handful of shells
Another shelling sister having a great time working the surf in the shallow tip.
Teresa (Tennessee)
Then two more joined us so I took a photo of the whole gang. They all hang out with us on iLoveShelling- What a fun morning!
Mary, Debbie, Teresa and Ann
I think I did more socializing than shelling (shellers are so darn nice!) on the Sanibel side so I didn’t get many shell photos but I did get some shots from the Captiva side… where I started my day. I didn’t find anything exceptional like Eileen, but I enjoyed what I found.
Kitten's Paws everywhere!
I found several Bittersweets
Lots of Calico Clams
All of these shells were found on the left side of the jetty on Captiva. The long sand bar that we saw last month is gone but there is a smaller sand bar that has formed at the end of the jetty. I didn’t find all of these shells together in the photo below but I did find them all within 10 minutes.
Murex, conchs, an olive and a bittersweet
In the photo below, this is what the other side of the jetty looked like today. This is where I filmed the Sit N Sifters last week. Can you believe it? Now….. zip, zilch, zero shells.
No shells, only a fisherman
So many of you are keeping up with the changes at Blind Pass.. so I took another short video this time from the Blind Pass bridge. When I pan over to the left side (the Sanibel side), I zoomed to the furthest sand tip where Eileen found her cone and where I met all of my new shelling sisters. I actually took this before I met them all but seeing alot of shelling going on out there, I knew it was a hot spot. 
If you want a little more info on the history of the Blind Pass dredging, read this article To Dredge or Not To Dredge
Shelling on South Seas Island Resort
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Bird in paradise
I was tickled to be able to go shelling on South Seas Island Resorton Captiva Island yesterday. I’ve been hearing about the big shell pile on the north tip by the jetty along Redfish Pass…… I was not disappointed. Now, that’s a shell pile! I found lots of different shells like WHELKS and FIGHTING CONCHS but tons of LETTERED OLIVES and KITTEN’S PAWS with both sides together.
Lettered Olives on a jetty rock
Whole Kitten's paws
If you know me? You know I loooove WORM SHELLS! Oh yeaya, I got me some WORMS SHELLS. They were just sitting on top!
Worm shell just waiting to be picked
Worm shell on top of the pile
Florida worm shell
I did place this last one on a broken clam shell so you could see the color, the funky curl and the little white tip. I just love them- call me crazy.
Brenda (Loxahatchee, FL)
A South Seas guest, Brenda, was in her own heaven finding FIGHTING CONCHS. She told me she makes tables with them that she uses in her home on the East coast of Florida.
South Seas Resort beach with shells
You have to be an owner or a South Seas Island Resort guest to access this part of the beach. I felt fortunate that I was asked to be a guest by a friend….sweet, huh? So, if you are staying there, you practically have first dibs on the shells.
South Seas Island Resort entrance
“I found a Nudibranch!”
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Adriana, Grace, Aunt Karen, Sheri, and Carmen (NY)
When you ask a 9 year old what kind of shells that they found, you expect them to say something like “Lot’s of pretty ones!” or maybe sometimes “A whelk and a conch!”. That’s not what I got when I asked Adriana and her sister Grace what they found. Adriana showed me a beautiful, perfect small shell and I said “Wow, that’s a perfect FIG” which she replied “Yes, a fig, I know!”. Grace knew the names of her shells too …”Look at this KITTEN’S PAW that’s still together”.
That’s when Adriana said “I found a NUDIBRANCH too!”. uhhhh. Huh? A what? I had no idea what a NUDIBRANCH was until she told me it was a sea slug. So I just looked it up…..here’s a picture of a NUDIBRANCH (click on the highlighted word) that I think she saw (?). Adriana and Grace’s dad, Carmen, is a biologist and was a science teacher so he and their mom Sheri have done a great job teaching their girls all about sea life. Crazy Aunt Karen ( that’s what they say they call her) said she has been coming to Sanibel for 40 years so shelling and sea life must be in the blood. Carmen or Adriana, please let me (us) know if this is the type of NUDIBRANCH you saw on the beach on the Sanibel side of Blind Pass. I’m so intrigued now.
Well, I’ve learned that I’m not smarter than a 3rd grader when it comes to sea slugs. Now I can’t wait to see a nudibranch for myself.
Still shelling at sunset
Kayaker at Sunset on Captiva
