Archive for Pear Whelk
Mystique Of A Freak
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Ahhhhh Freak Out! Le Freak. C’est Chic. Freak Out! … Remember that song? Wouldn’t you freak if you found this FREAK LIGHTNING WHELK?
Martine (from my last post) introduced me to her Periwinkle Park neighbors Ron and Lucienne because they too love to shell. As soon as I saw their picnic table loaded with shells, I spotted this LIGHTNING WHELK. I freaked out when I saw the curly tail on this guy!
What’s a FREAK shell? As I understand it, it’s a shell with an abnormal structure, albinism, dwarf, giant or some sort of growth defect or maybe even a strange color pattern. This is Lucienne proudly displaying her FREAK WHELK…
After I calmed down about the curly tailed freak, I spotted something else. Another freakin’ FREAK?
Looks like a PEAR WHELK, right? I know, but I don’t think it is (although I could be wrong). I guess it could be a left handed PEAR WHELK with a strange apex but I what ever it is, it’s a FREAK! In my humble opinion, I think it’s a LIGHTNING WHELK that is a “Knobless Wonder” in a WHELK version instead of a HORSE CONCH. Look! It doesn’t have the spines that LIGHTNING WHELKS normally have. Believe it or not, they had two of these they found the same day.
Lucienne’s husband Ron was especially proud of this huge, beautiful KING’S CROWN he found as well. Wow! gorgeous…
Even this one looks like it is a little unusual (not to mention the size of it!) because of a second row of spines…
I wouldn’t consider this one to be a FREAK but this LIGHTNING WHELK had a slight bend to the base (or what I like to call the “tail”). And look at the color on this baby- fabulous!
Look at all these beauties!
I asked Ron and Lucienne where they find their best shells. They told me they love to shell in the bays around Sanibel in their homemade kayaks. Yes, you heard that right. They made both of these beautiful kayaks!
Thank you for sharing your treasures, Ron and Lucienne. I had an incredible time drooling over your incredible shell collection… especially those FREAKS! I’m still freaked! It’s hard to say what causes mollusks to have abnormal growth patterns like “Curly Tail” but there could be many reasons including lack of food, healing after damage by predators, water quality (red tide maybe!) or who knows…. it could be just in the DNA. Whatever it is, i LOVE FREAK SHELLS!
Super Sunrise, Sunset And Super Moon
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Sanibel sunrise
It was a super weekend with a “super moon”, super sunrise, super shelling, super dolphins and super sunsets. I am still over the moon (heehee) after seeing that dolphin rushing towards me yesterday morning at sunrise so I’ve added that video again at the end of this post. Hope you don’t mind.
Super moon seashells
The full moon was setting over Sanibel leaving a low tide and live shells exposed on the beach. I always love to see live shells at low tide and especially when they are healthy and happy eating a scrumptious meal (sorry Mr Fighting Conch).
Lightning whelk eating conch
I was so amazed at how black this WHELK was devouring the other shell . It looked like a tar blob oozing out of his shell. Okay, let me make sure you know….this is not tar…this is a MOLLUSK!
Live Pear Whelk
Look how cute this live PEAR WHELK is! He’s doing a great job of making his way to deeper water.
Diana (Oregon)
Diana got out on the beach at 5:30 with a flashlight to take advantage of the full moon low tide yesterday morning. Notice the moon setting behind her right next to her ear…. I think she is listening to what the moon has to say. She found lots of FIGHTING CONCHS, a gorgeous double SUNRAY VENUS, BANDED TULIPS and lots of other shells.
Diana's seashells
Right after I took this picture and admired the moon again, I turned around to ogle at the sunrise view again and that’s when we both saw the dolphin splashing in what looked like golden water. I lost track of exactly where I was since I followed them along the beach a little ways but it was somewhere between Holiday Inn and Sundial.
Sanibel Dolphin at sunrise
It’s so much fun to see Dolphin so close to the beach whether they are feeding or playing. They corral the little fish up to the beach so they can easily pick out the ones that want to enjoy for breakfast. I happen to think they have a great time putting on a show as well.
Beachcombers with dolphins
Shellers watching dolphins
Since there were two low tides yesterday, I went back to the beach in the evening….
Sanibel shell seeker Todd
Todd (PA) was searching for shells in the low tide surf while his girlfriend Courtney was on the beach finding goodies.
Sanibel beachcomber Courtney
She found a beautifully colored PEAR WHELK, CANDY (JUVENILE HORSE CONCH), TURKEY WING, LIGHTNING WHELK, NUTMEG, BANDED TULIP and a little tiny OLIVE.
Courtney's beachcombing shells
So along with all of the other super-ness of the weekend, you can see I met some super shellers.
Super Moon over Buck Key
After North West Winds
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Long spined sea urchin
I don’t see LONG SPINED URCHINS often but it seems they get washed up after a good wind blow. We had 20 mph north west winds yesterday so I saw lots of shells and live creatures washed up on the beach at Blind Pass this morning. This guy was still alive as well as lots of FIGHTING CONCHS and other shells so we put them back into the gulf for hopes of survival and more breeding.
Don's Alphabets and numeg
These ALPHABET CONES were not alive and they were just a few good shell finds Don from Vermont. He was out on the sand bar on the Sanibel side of Blind Pass before sunrise with a head lamp. Here’s a shot of his other shells he found this morning ….
Don's shells and head lamp
Yes, that’s a gorgeous TRUE TULIP on the right. You can see how deep the water was crossing over to the sand bar by looking at Don’s shirt below… if you can take your eyes off that beautiful red TULIP he’s holding.
Don's true tulip
So to recap, Don got to Blind Pass at the crack of dawn, worked really hard to find all these beach treasures, practically had to swim back to get to the main beach…. then ends up giving most of his shells away to a couple he just met on the beach. He even made sure they knew all the correct shell names. What a nice guy!
Don showing Sara and Bob different shells
Look at all of these treasure Don gave Sara and Bob. So sweet.
Sara's new seashell
Sara and Bob (OH)
I walked over the bridge to the Captiva side of the pass and met Shanti and Barry that were visiting from the east coast of Florida for the weekend to do some shelling.
Shanti and Barry (Pompano, FL)
They told me they didn’t know what a WENTLETRAP was before they found… us! They are blog buddies (!) so they wanted to see what Blind Pass had in store after the north west winds. They also told me they had to run down to the lighthouse to see if they could find some of those WENTLETRAPS we talk about. I’m sure you’ll have good luck since you’ve already had a good start with this bucket of goodies.
Shanti's seashells
I met another sheller who was mostly collecting KITTEN’S PAWS.
Tamara (VA)
Tamara is a preschool music teacher who was collecting KITTEN’S PAWS to give to her students with an added pearl inside and a note saying “You are precious”. Really, I don’t make this stuff up. These people I meet are genuinely this nice and it gives me so much pleasure to spread the word that shelling attracts these amazing people.
Fighting conchs
These are a few FIGHTING CONCHS and other shells we found this morning.
Banded Tulips
Kings crown
Lightning whelk
After listening to one of the 6th graders at the Sanibel Shell Fair and Show last week in my video, I saw this LIGHTNING WHELK and immediately assumed this was a female since the color is getting a little lighter. Hmmm. Ya think?
Pear whelk in scallop shell
I always love to see PEAR WHELKS! They just seem special to me.
For those of you who like to keep up with the changes at Blind Pass, I made a little video today. You can see the differences with the tide change and of course, the changes that occur everyday with the sand shifting by the wind and current. 
Stroll On Lighthouse Beach
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Nutmeg seashell with clouds
We walked the beach near the lighthouse late this afternoon and boy, was it beautiful. It was cool, calm and clear with little humidity….. and the shelling wasn’t too bad either.
Pear whelk with a wave
Baby horse conch
A baby teeny tiny candy corn!
Some of our seashells from lighthouse
Our seashell collection over view
Fighting conchs
Janet (Tulsa, OK)
Janet found a nice size SHARK’S EYE, LIGHTNING WHELKS and lots of CONCHS.
Carmen, Jana, Torstef and Lara (Germany)
Their first time to Sanibel! I’m sure not their last.
If you don’t know yet…… we have a GIVE AWAY!
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS!!!
Today A Bridesmaid, Forever A Sheller
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Dani (Columbus, Ohio)
It was a perfect evening for a wedding on the beach at Casa Ybel Resortwith cool breezes, no humidity and a clear colorful sky. I saw a beautiful small ceremony taking advantage of this gorgeous weather, then I got so tickled to see beautiful bridesmaid Dani make a bee line directly to the shell line on the beach right after the ceremony ended while still holding her flowers. She already had a hand full of CALICO SCALLOPS, a BANDED TULIP, and a few COQUINAS by the time I caught up with her. She told me the whole wedding party came to Sanibel from Columbus, Ohio to celebrate her sister’s wedding.
Dani's sister's wedding at Casa Ybel
So beautiful.
Fran and David's shells
I also met Fran and David who have been coming to Sanibel for years to shell but have gotten a little picky about the shells they keep. They were especially happy to find the PEAR WHELK (top right) and the BANDED TULIP (bottom left).
Fran and David (New Mexico)
Susie from MacIntosh Books found a pretty CONCH!
Susie (Sanibel)
Day Trip to Little Hickory
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Little Hickory jetty rocks
Kinda looks like Captiva’s Blind Pass, right? Nope. We took a little day trip down to Little Hickory in Bonita springs for a shelling adventure. Our blog buddy Carla told us about the north end of Little Hickory and posted some pictures on the iLoveShelling facebook page which got us antsy to check it out. It’s only about 40 minutes from Sanibel (if that) going through Fort Myers Beach so it was no problem to find it and the parking is easy (just look for the signs).
Little Hickory beach access
Little Hickory jetties
2 fighting conchs at low tide
Little Hickory seashell collection
We found lots of fighting conchs! We normally don’t pick up or keep FIGHTING CONCHS any more but we collected these for Jesse at The Mucky Duck. We haven’t been finding many shells other than minis (not that there’s anything wrong with that 
)on Sanibel lately and Jesse is low on “stock”. He’ll have plenty for a while and they are absolutely perfect.
Little Hickory low tide
This was obviously low tide, so many shells were just barely covered by sand. It was so much fun seeing a tiny bit of a NUTMEG, TULIP or WORM SHELL peeking out of the sand, digging around it with my toe, seeing it was whole, then reaching down to find a keeper. We found lots of broken CONES but we weren’t lucky enough to find any to bring home but we were still happy with our haul. These were our best finds….
Little Hickory best seashells
From top left to right- SHARK’S EYE, WORM SHELL, NUTMEG, 3 TRUE TULIPS then a JUVENILE HORSE CONCH (candy!), MOON SHELL, the first smaller shell is a baby LACE MUREX (so cute!), baby KINGS’ CROWN, PEAR WHELK, WORM TOP. Then a KING’S CROWN, another MOON then a TOP SHELL. Sorry the picture isn’t that great to see them up close. We only put 2 hours worth of quarters in the meter so our time was running out.
Big Hickory Seafood Grille
We had a really good lunch after working up a big appetite out on the beach. Right across the street from the parking lot is Big Hickory Seafood Grille. Yum!
Thanks, Carla, for giving us this day trip shelling tip. It was well worth the short drive (no traffic this time of year) and we had fun exploring another area.
