Archive for Murex
Similar Small Sanibel Seashells
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Can you tell that these are four different shells? The difference between these seashells is very slight.
I found a few cutie little shells at the lighthouse that looked very similar but when I turned them over to look at the apertures to correctly identify them, I found little HERMIT CRABS in each one.
After I took the pictures, I put the shells back in the water where I found them then got inspired to head home to sift through my collection of unsorted shells. I had so many of these smaller shells lumped together so it was time to make sure I had the right identity on each one. Okay, so let’s go back and look at the shells I found in my collection at home that were so similar (but not exactly the same kind I found on the beach)…
From left to right… MAUVE-MOUTH DRILL, RIBBED CANTHARUS, GULF OYSTER DRILL and a PITTED MUREX. Here are the apertures…
I showed the MAUVE-MOUTH DRILL (and it’s eggs) in my January 24 post …
but now you can see how similar it is to the RIBBED CANTHARUS…
and the GULF OYSTER DRILL…
I’ve only showed a GULF OYSTER DRILL once before, which is strange because they are somewhat common to find on Sanibel. So here’s a closeup…
The PITTED MUREX is bit smaller (and not as common… for me any way) than the others but it’s still a bear to identify without “cheaters” on. And it is so similar too!
So now we can sift through our collections and finally identify the differences between these four shells now that we can see them side by side. Uhhhh….. I hate to tell you this…. but…. unfortunately, there a few more that look similar to these as well. For instance, …like that photo of my palm with the HERMIT CRAB shells? That top shell more to the left of the photo…. that’s a juvie APPLE MUREX! Doesn’t it look like the rest of the shells? And the shell on the far right side of my palm has a broken base so it’s harder to identify (and I didn’t get a great photo of it) but I’m sure it was a RIBBED CANTHARUS too. And y’all thought Seashell Identification was easy, didn’t you? heehee
RIBBED CANTHARUS, APPLE MUREX, MAUVE-MOUTH DRILL, broken RIBBED CANTHARUS (I’m sure).
Rare Sighting! Mauve-Mouth Drill Egg Case
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This is so wild. Attached to a SUNRAY VENUS CLAM, were fresh egg cases that these MAUVE-MOUTH DRILLS just produced!
MurexKen found this fascinating nest just after MurexAlice had shown me those cute little MORTON’S EGG COCKLES on yesterdays post (hmmm- the “egg” theme continues, huh?). I was tickled that he called me over to show me this egg case that I’ve never seen before. The babies look like little pods of pollen sitting in a beautiful flower. Mk and MA are quite a pair for finding the unexpected!
I’m not quite sure, but I think the shell on the left was still laying some eggs. I hated to disturb them so after taking a few photos, we returned the mollusks and eggs to the water to make sure they produce healthy babies.
You can see this one’s aperture with just a bit of the “mauve” showing around his body.
Oh wait…. just in case you can’t remember what a MAUVE-MOUTH DRILL looks like when you find them empty on the beach, here are a few pictures to refresh your memory…
Now you’ll see why they call it “mauve-mouth”. They have a mauve or purple in the aperture when they are alive or freshly dead.
Out of all these shells in our collection at home, I could only find one that had a mauve mouth.
I don’t find MAUVE-MOUTH DRILLS that often so to see live ones that are laying eggs was really pretty exceptional. I’m not sure if this would be considered scientifically ”rare” to see this out beach combing, but it was rare for me. Great finds MK and MA!
Gotten, The Cabrits Of Our Lives
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It’s not easy to find a CABRIT’S MUREX on the beaches of Sanibel.. much less with some of the spines still in tact. So I was over the moon when Clark found this one near Bowman’s Beach. (Okay, hopefully not the Cabrits of our lives but I couldn’t resist the silly title play on words)
Joanne (NJ) was shelling in the same spot with me when Clark showed us this great find. So guess what she found the very next day? You guessed it! Her own CABRITS MUREX!!
They look to be just about the same size and color (Clark’s looks whiter but when it’s wet it looks just like her’s with a pinkish color) but hers has a few more spines still in tact. Crazy, huh?
Look at the other cool shells she found… a piece of LIONS PAW, 2 FLATS and a pink tinted ALTERNATE TELLIN with both sides still attached.
Then I ran into Joan (Indiana) who found a beautiful SCOTCH BONNET on her birthday!!!!
Look at that bright yellow SCALLOP too. Happy birthday, Joan!
The low tide mornings over the weekend brought in these unusual shells along with lots of the goodies.
Lizbeth found a handful of orangies. Look at that fabulous solid brilliant orange CHESTNUT TURBAN. It doesn’t look chestnut to me, you know?
I also found a wonderful treasure… Shelling Sistah Connie Knight in her i Love Shelling shirt!!!
And then Shelling Sistah Mary Ann Ross too! I was in hog heaven all weekend.
Here’s Benny from Miami finding those bright orange SCALLOPS too…
The weekend started off with gobs of rain and wind then finished with gorgeous skies. We shelled right through all of it and ended up with a treasure trove. You gotta roll with the tides, baby.
Junonia Schmanonia
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Blind Pass from Captiva looking towards Sanibel
Yesterday evening at around 6:30 pm was a nice negative low tide at Blind Pass of -0.2 . Look at all the people shelling on the sand bars all the way across the pass. Of course since Clark has found 2 JUNONIAS in the last couple of weeks (mind you, they aren’t perfect by far- I’m not complaining, just stating facts- ……I sound jealous, don’t I? grrrr- but if you really want to see them click HERE and HERE) I figured there’s no way I’d find one too but there’s always something else interesting to find out there.
No, I didn’t find one of those little JUNONIA buggers (I’m still sounding jealous, aren’t I.) but I was happy to find this sweet FLORIDA CONE right off the bat. I was especially happy when I found this cute family from North Carolina who found over 25 SAND DOLLARS! Lisa Marie called them the SAND DOLLAR whisperers.
Kim, Hannah and Abby with sand dollars
Abby's sand dollars
Speaking of shelling sistah Lisa Marie, here she is with her son Jeff having a great time filling their shell bags with all sorts of goodies…
Jeff and Lisa Marie (NJ)
Jeff found the prettiest LACE MUREX I’ve seen in a long time….
I met a family from Brasil so excited to see live OLIVES and CONCHS but even happier to find empty shells to pluck in their shell bags.
Marisol, Renan and Enzo
Okay, I guess I have to fess up now……. YES! I am a little jealous of Clark’s JUNONIA finding ability. The man’s got the pattern down to find those stupid stinkin’ elusive SCHMANONIAS (yes, I made that word up). Would you believe me if I told you he found another one last night? I probably wouldn’t if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. But, he did. He found it on the Sanibel side down on the edge of the surf way passed the sand bar that sticks out almost to that huge house on the beach. And it’s in so much better shape than last week’s shell.
Really, I still can’t believe it and it’s just getting weird now. LOL Like Julie commented last weekend “Ok, now he’s just showing off! But we love him anyway.” Ha! Look at his face in this picture, he even looks a little embarrassed- like he’s hoping nobody will “booo” him.
Alright, I was green with envy but I can’t help but be happy for him now that I’ve gotten the jealousy off my chest. Another congrats to you Clark! This will only make it sweeter when I find my perfect VOLUTE.
Seashells Of Sanibel And Nova Scotia
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The tides have taken some of the sand that normally covers these slabs* at the lighthouse beach on Sanibel. We were so surprised to see those pieces of concrete showing so much and that we haven’t been finding bigger shells lately. So we search for minis. I did find a MAUVE-MOUTH DRILL along with some other cuties that you probably already know. Can you pick out the MUAVE MOUTH DRILL?
If you couldn’t figure the others out, go to SEASHELL IDENTIFICATION but the one in the middle of this next picture is the MAUVE-MOUTH DRILL (I don’t have that on the I.D. page yet) ….
Mauve Mouth Drill
There were other mini collectors on the beach in between rain storms last night….
Eileen from Gainsville, FL was looking for NUTMEGS. Can you tell she like NUTMEGS? Hint- the beautiful bracelet!
I almost reached down to snag this little “candy” out of Dana’s (came down from Gainsville with Eileen) pile until I realized it was her stash 
….
A few days ago, I met a few Shelling Sisters from Nova Scotia that I could have spent the whole day with. Clark and I had a wonderful trip to Nova Scotia in 2005 so I was able to reminisce and visualize all of the places they mentioned and was so intrigued with their rich Mi’kmaq culture.
Denise and Colleen from Nova Scotia
It was so much fun reminiscing thanks to Denise and Colleen, I remembered a photo I took of our shells we found near Yarmouth. Even in 2005, I was taking pictures of our treasures….
Nova Scotia shells 2005
….and of course, taking pictures of Clark with shells….
2005 Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia Dogwinkles from 2005
* I’ve had a few people comment about those concrete slabs on the beach at the lighthouse since I posted these photos. There were a few other structures in the early 1900s that were washed away by storms. I asked my friend Susie at MacIntosh Books if she knew anything about them of if she had any books about it. She said to look at….
1) Sanybel Light, by Charles LeBuff, who lived at the lighthouse for 22 years and works at MacIntosh every Sunday
2) Sanibel’s Story, by Betty Anholt –includes several photos of lighthouse from 1943.
Finding Peace With Shells On The Beach
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I found shell Peace at Gulf Side City Beach yesterday evening. Literally!
Sanibel low tide
It was the perfect word to describe my walk at a low tide with temperatures in the mid 80s. Peace.
Ellen's Wentletrap
Not that I was eaves dropping (well trying not to), but I overheard a couple trying to figure out what they had found on the beach. I just had to see! It was a pretty large WENTLETRAP! They knew it was special.
Bill and Ellen after finding their wentletrap
There were lots of egg casings like I saw on May 18 on this stretch of beach too. This one is a MUREX EGG CASE.
Murex egg case
Woops! I goofed when I named the egg case on my MAY 18 post a TULIP egg case- it isn’t and I corrected it! It was a HORSE CONCH EGG CASING on my other post- thank you Sanibel Sisters! The one below is a TULIP EGG CASE.
Tulip Egg case
This is a SHARK’S EYE MOON SHELL SAND COLLAR. The eggs are mixed with sand and a gelatin mixture to protect them by forming this collar. Weird, huh?
Moon snail egg collar
I was very impressed when I met Caroline and her mom Bonnie. We were showing our shell finds to each other and Caroline knew every name of each of the shells…. PAPER FIGS, OLIVES, CONCHS. Bonnie says that Caroline loves everything to do with nature so she soaks up every bit of information she can find. I can’t believe I didn’t get pictures of their shells but I sure got a cute picture of the two of them…
Caroline and Bonnie (Cincinnati)
