iLS longspines star shell

Let the Shellabaloo begin with a bang!!! That’s right folks! On our first day of the Island Inn shelling extravaganza, Joe from Ohio found a very rare (for this area) LONG-SPINED STAR SHELL! Holy Toledo! Ok, (hee hee) he’s not from Toledo, Ohio… he and his wife Patty are from Akron and had no idea what this shell was.

joe patty long spined star shell

Joe thought it was maybe the top of a cracked shell but as soon as I saw it I knew it was a rare find. For some reason I said it was a “sundial” and it stuck in my head since Im not used to seeing LONG-SPINED STAR SHELLS on our beaches. Whoops! So embarrassing! I’ve even blogged about LONG-SPINED STAR SHELLS when we found a few on a vacation to The Keys.

Here is Joe’s LONG-SPINED STAR SHELL in his hand to show you how big it is…

long-spined star seashell

Congratshellations! And guess what… He didn’t even consider himself a real “sheller”. He just agreed to go on this vacation since Patty is an avid sheller. Ha! I think he might be hooked on shelling now too, huh? Here’s the aperture side of the shell.

aperture long spined star shell

I have got soooo many photos to show you since we’ve all been have a ball shelling and hanging out together but I had to post this first thing. I’ll have more photos and stories coming soon! But wait… now that I’m on the subject of Joe and his awesome shelling skills, I have to show you another beautiful shell he found too… a LIGHTNING WHELK!  The mollusk was alive inside it so he had to put it back in the water where he found it but it is always a thrill to see this awesome creature.

joe lightning whelk

I promise to get to everybody else and their found treasures very soon so I can introduce you to all of these fabulous shellers like …

shellabaloo seashellers

…and like these fabulous shellers too!

shellabaloo shelling group