{"id":13480,"date":"2013-01-23T22:12:12","date_gmt":"2013-01-24T03:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/?p=13480"},"modified":"2020-03-22T20:09:28","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T00:09:28","slug":"southwest-florida-uncommon-shells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iloveshelling.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/23\/southwest-florida-uncommon-shells\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Florida Uncommon Shells"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"uncommon<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We learned about Donnie The Shellinator (it tickles me every time I write that- heehee) and his PLASTERED WENTLETRAP on my last post<\/strong><\/a>, but I didn’t have time to mention the other shells he and Alyssa took to show the folks at the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum…. FREAKS!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"irregular<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I know your eyes went right to the crooked LIGHTNING WHELK, didn’t it? I know, I love a good FREAK shell too but they didn’t find these last week, they collected these in the last year but since we got to see the real experts it was the perfect time to show the coolness.  It looks like this WHELK was involved in some sort of trauma that clipped his “tail” (siphonal canal) but he was strong enough to rebuild his shell any way he could… and this time it was sideways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"freak<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On the left of the photo is a FREAK KNOBLESS FIGHTING CONCH. But “knobless” isn’t the only thing that is freaky about it. The aperture is so narrow with an unusual shape and it looks like the shoulder grew back up on the spire of the shell too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"fighting<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Believe it or not, we don’t find many juvenile ALPHABET CONES on our beaches so Donnie donated his to Smokey of the Shell Museum who wants to complete a growth display. Nice, huh? Maybe it be added to a display like this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"alphabet<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It was such a pleasure to listen to the shell experts tell us what they look for to correctly identify different seashells and how to figure out what makes them FREAKS. I caught a small part of Smokey Payson on video explaining what could have happened to this FREAK LIGHTING WHELK to make his tail grow sideways. Sorry this clip is so fuzzy and unsteady… really, it’s not a great video but I really think you’ll like to hear Smokey’s take on these FREAKS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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