Archive for Murex egg case
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)
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
