On the Beach With Shell Eggs And Ham, Pam-I-Am
After strong west winds last week, surely we would get some interesting shells and Beach Bling washing up on our shores of Sanibel and Captiva. Yep, lots of Beach Bling lined the beach at Gulfside City Park.
The winds were so strong, the strength of the waves pushed oodles of crab traps with buoys onto the beach. When traps get tossed around by the power of the water, their doors get jostled then spill out the bait for the crabs.
So of course, the bait gets washed up on the beach too. Pigs Feet! Yes, they use PIGS FEET to attract STONE CRABS and BLUE CRABS so that’s why you may have seen odd bones washed up on the beach- most of the time its from crab traps. I actually think this one may be a HOGS FOOT. Its weird and humongo! On the beach, I do not like pigs feet or ham, Pam I am.
But don’t let this PIGS FOOT be confused with this SEA PORK. More ham, Pam I am?
I also found lots of different MOLLUSK EGG CASINGS too like this LIGHTNING WHELK EGG CHAIN…
I saw there were little baby shells in their fluid still sealed in each of the disks so I put it back in the water. I’m sure they washed back up on the beach since the water was still pretty rough but … who knows. Maybe they got stuck on something out there in the water and were able to hatch. Dunno, but why not try?
This one is an EGG CASE to a PAPER FIG…
This is a BANDED TULIP…
This beauty is a TRUE TULIP EGG CASE…
When Clark and I looked a little closer, we saw there were several other EGG CASES that were laid on some of the TRUE TULIP EGG CAPSULES.
There were lots of MILLIPEDE STARFISH (and PEN SHELLS)…
This was a very cool LONG SPINED SEA URCHIN…
There were hundreds of DOSINIAS that were washed up on the beach as well. I was really thrilled to find both types of our local DOSINIAS scattered along the wrack lines. The top one is the very common DISK DOSINIA and the bottom one is the ELEGANT DOSINIA. I haven’t had time to photograph them but I hope to show the detail much better on my next post.
We searched Blind Pass (both sides) and Lighthouse but didn’t find huge piles of shells this weekend after the high winds but loved finding all of this cool bling at Gulfside City Park. I’m still hoping the shell piles will come rolling in soon but the birds are happy as clams with so much gourmet food at their beaks.
The birds do like stone crab and clams.
They like them here and there. They like them everywhere.
They do so like stone crabs and clams. Go Birds. Go Birds. Pam-I-am.
CyberShelling At Lighthouse Beach
Someone asked me the other day “How can you tell if the eggs are dead or alive in a (MOLLUSK) EGG CASING?”. I had posted a photo of little tiny shells in the capsule of a LIGHTNING WHELK EGG CASE on my post Beach Bling Babes when the question came up. The whole EGG CHAIN I had shown was completely dried and pretty crumbly so it was safe to say that there were no living baby MOLLUSKS in there. So when I picked up a few TRUE TULIP EGG CASES this morning at the Sanibel Lighthouse Beach and saw that they may still be alive, I wanted to show you the difference. Since I’m no scientist, I can’t tell you these little TRUE TULIP EGGS were definitely alive, but they sure looked like they could still be viable to me since they were still encased in their fluid capsules.
I also looked at the little hole in the top of the capsule and saw that it was still plugged. After about a month, when the babies are ready to come out, the pore opens up (that I’m showing in the photo above) and the young will creep out. So my theory is, if I don’t know something is dead, I have to assume it’s still alive. So I put the EGG CLUSTERS back in the water to maybe have a chance of surviving. You can see it much more clearly in this video….
YEEWWW HOOOO, CYBERSHELLERS! I have something different today. I bent down to pick up a BUTTON SHELL, then saw several fun mini goodies so I thought you might enjoy seeing them too. Click on the next photo to enlarge. Have fun!
PS- Come shelling with me! Here’s how…
Merry Holiday Beach Art
Merry Christmas, SS Marcia! In my last post, Marcia asked me if I had seen beach art yet. I had to laugh when the first thing I saw when I walked on the beach was this Christmas tree made with PEN SHELLS. Then right beside it was this beautiful menorah! This is the first that I’ve seen this season so thank you to the beach art artist who made these!
There was so much Beach Bling in between Donax Rd and Fulgur Rd on Sanibel.
This was one of several TULIP EGG CASES I saw…
I didn’t even see the second KEYHOLE LIMPET on the left when I took this photo. I was so amazed at the dark stripes on the big LIMPET and the colors on the tiny APPLE MUREX and BANDED TULIP.
In one little area, the high tide was bringing in shells to build up this nice pile. See that gorgeous LIGHTNING WHELK?
Maybe the golden rays of this Sanibel sunset shining on the amber edges of the ROUGH PENS will inspire the richly talented artists who create their beach art masterpieces for we mere beachcombers to fill our hearts with joy for the holidays. Ahem…. did I ask that nicely enough for more fun holiday beach art stuff? ;)
Barefootin’ With Shelling Sistas
It sure was a roller coaster weekend… literally. Hurricane Irene was rolling along the coast wreaking havoc and causing lots of trouble. My family and friends in Virginia Beach are fine (some with no power still, but fine) and I hope you and yours that were in Irene’s path are okay as well. I spent most of my time glued to the weather channel wrenching my hands so I took a 45 minute drive to Bonita Springs on Saturday to meet my Shelling Sistas Carla and Kelly at Barefoot Beach for some well needed shelling time. The welcome wagon was there to greet us in the form of a GOPHER TORTOISE…
He was even so friendly to hang out with Kelly for a bit. How cute are they!
The tide was pretty high when we started our treasure hunt but there’s always something fun to find on the beach.
Carla spotted a couple of SHARK’S TEETH and fossil piece of a mouth plate to a PUFFER FISH….
I only found one little SHARK’S TOOTH but was happy to find any!
Carla came across this PEN SHELL with such a colorful EGG CASING attached to it. It looks like a beautiful flower blossom!
I am a little confused which egg sacs these are because of the color but I think this maybe a TRUE TULIP EGG CASE that just was formed. Take a look and see what you think. I’d love a positive I.D. so if you can help, please help us learn what it is. Here’s a closer look at this beauty….
Carla walks this beach probably as much as I walk the Sanibel beaches so she has a keen eye to find the goodies like the SHARK’S TEETH, EGG CASES and this perfect empty LACE MUREX …
Did you notice her necklace? Yes! She found that big honkin tooth and made a necklace out of it like she did for the oh-so-cool piece of sea glass she gave me. I love it Carla!
Kelly was soaking in the beauty of the day every second….
I was thrilled when she brought seashells she found from Puerto Penasco, Mexico (aka- Rocky Point) to share. Thank you Kelly! Now remember, these are shells from Mexico NOT Florida…
Seashells from Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco, Mexico)
I didn’t get a picture of all her treasures our day on Barefoot so she sent a photo of her shells from the day…
I know these don’t look like great shells to most, but these were my favorite finds on Saturday- CORAL, WORMIE, SHARKS TOOTH, a piece of a LION’S PAW (!), a tiny OLIVE with beautiful color and pattern and a SEA PEARL.
Since I was so distracted by Hurricane Irene, I didn’t get to show you another shelling sista I met last week on the beach in Sanibel. It was so nice to meet you, Desiree! I love your hat!
She said she bought a cheapy hat and embellished it using hot glue with shells she found on Sanibel. She said it was a snap to make since the ribbon was already there to glue the shells to. It’s the simple things that make life fun, isn’t it?
I have some pictures of Blind Pass from yesterday evening at low tide that I won’t probably get to post until tomorrow but it’s just an FYI…. there are shells there. You have to look in the water right at the edge of the small drop off. Good luck! In the mean time, enjoy a few more pics of Barefoot Beach…
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Finding Peace With Shells On The Beach
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)
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