South west Florida Sanibel Cockle shells

There are so many different COCKLE SHELLS that live here in SouthWest Florida! Clark even found this wonderful ALBINO FLORIDA PRICKLY COCKLE this weekend…

albino prickly cockle

 I’m sure that it’s an ALBINO since the shell looks so fresh with the ribs perfectly in tact without that dull matte finish that you get with beach worn shells.

albino florida prickly cockle

albino florida prickly cockle interior

Since I received a comment from Pat Bradley on a post last week who suggested that I add the PAINTED COCKLE on my Seashell Identification page (Thank you Pat for the great suggestion!) I couldnt stop thinking about how many different COCKLES there are.  So when Clark found the ALBINO COCKLE I remembered I needed to photograph the PAINTED EGG COCKLE…

Painted egg cockle

Then I realized I didn’t have the very common FLORIDA PRICKLY COCKLE on my Shell Identification page either… Geez, so many COCKLES. I’m getting frazzled!

Florida Prickly Cockle

So I might as well show the whole gaggle of COCKLES we have in our collection of shells. This includes of course the ATLANTIC GIANT COCKLE…

Atlantic Giant Cockles

And probably my favorite… the YELLOW PRICKLY COCKLE.

Yellow Prickly Cockle

Well wait, I take that back. I think the BROAD PAPER COCKLE is my favorite COCKLE but I just don’t find them often. Take a close look… have you found lots of these?

2 broad paper cockle

We can’t forget about the tiny MORTON’S EGG COCKLE either! They are so stinkin cute!

Mortons Egg Cockle

And finally, we have the VELVET EGG COCKLE (which I normally just call it a plain ol EGG COCKLE)

Velvet Egg Cockle

There is a STRAWBERRY COCKLE as well, but I didn’t find one this weekend when I looked for COCKLES  and I can’t remember ever picking one up. So when we find one, (and we will definitely be keeping our eyes peeled!) I’ll let you know.

But before I sign off for tonight, I met a really nice local gal Mary Beth from Fort Myers on the beach by the Sanibel fishing pier. (yes, the water is that ice tea color again… too much rain so overflow of the lake and river – ugh. It will clear up soon)

Mary Beth shell sanibel pier

While I was looking for COCKLES, she was on the hunt for minis. She showed me this sweet little MARGINELLA along with some other excellent specimens.

mary beth mianiature shells

Happy hearts.

double egg cockle