Peanut Worm
Peanut Worm in shallow water
Clark and I boated out to North Captiva and Cayo Costa today and found this flopping around in the shallow water. What the heck is it? I was thinking it was a live ANGEL WING that had peeped out from it’s shell below but it’s a PEANUT WORM. We found lots of SUNRAY VENUS CLAMS so maybe that’s what the live mollusk looks like when he peeks out of his shell from below the surface. I didn’t dig it up (Yikes!) to find out so I’d love feedback, if anybody knows what it is (as “clean” as possible, please- haha!).
6" Sunray venus
It’s a monster! This was the biggest SUNRAY VENUS that we found today. I didn’t get a chance to clean it before I took this picture but most of that crud will come right off so it should be really pretty.
Brown baby's ears mixed with our other finds
We were very happy to find MACULATED BABY’S EARS today too. These are the brown ones that aren’t as common and have brown smears on them. The one to the right of the WENTLETRAP has spots on it. Also pictured….3 FALSE ANGEL WINGS, 2 RICE OLIVES, a BUBBLE, PEAR WHELK, and a baby LIGHTNING WHELK.
We didn’t find much by the tree roots on the south tip of Cayo Costa but we were still happy with our treasures we picked up on the way there.
"Turtle Shells"
Post Update 4/6/10……..Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum director Jose H. Leal identified the top picture as a sipunculid, also known as a PEANUT WORM. That’s a new one for me. So there was no shell underneath. Weird, huh?
GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY EASTER (NEW FRIEND)
THERE IS NO WAY I CAN EXPRESS TO YOU HOW VERY MUCH I (WE) THE SANIBEL SISTERS ARE ENJOYING YOUR DAILY ADVENTURES AND THE TREASURES YOU HAVE FOUND.
MY FIRST TRIP TO SANIBEL WAS OVER 30 YRS AGO AND I DID NOT RETURN UNTIL 10 YRS AGO FOR VARIOUS REASONS………AND NOW WE COME ONCE A YEAR OR MORE IF POSSIBLE.
MY HUSBAND AND I ARRIVE IN SANIBEL ON SAT. APRIL 10 FOR THREE WEEKS……….AND I AM BEYOND EXCITED. YOUR BLOG HAS ALLOWED ME TO BE THERE EVERY DAY HOWEVER AND I AM SO HAPPY THAT I HAVE FOUND YOU.
MY SISTERS AND I HAVE FOUND HUNDREDS (MAYBE THOUSANDS) OF SHELLS AND WE ARE ALL ARTISTIC AND MAKE AND SELL OUR TREASURES
SUCH AS BIRD HOUSES, WREATHS, FRAMED OVALS. HEARTS. CIRCLES WITH MIRRORS. BOXES AND SHADOW BOXES.
WE RENT A HOUSE ON WEST GULF DRIVE AND DRIVE THE ISLAND FROM END TO END ON ANY GIVEN DAY. IF THERE IS NOTHING AT THE LIGHT HOUSE (DO YOU KNOW THE SWEET COUPLE THAT LIVE IN THE LIGHT HOUSE) WE KEEP DRIVING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION UNTIL WE FIND A BEACH WITH SOME SHELLS. WE COLLECT THE BIG SHELLS BUT NEED THE MINIS FOR OUR SHADOW BOXES SO WE SPEND MANY HOURS CLOSE TO THE SAND ON OUR HUNT FOR TREASURES.
IT WOULD BE SO FUN TO MEET YOU BUT IM SURE EVERYONE SAYS THAT AND YOU ARE MOST LIKELY OVERWHELMED WITH PEOPLE WANTING TO KNOW YOU. HOWEVER IF YOU SEE AN OLDER LADY (QUITE FLUFFY I MIGHT ADD)WITH BLOND HAIR LIMPING ALONG WITH A PAIR OF LONG TWEESERS (WE ALWAYS SHELL WITH OUR TWEESERS) OR LYING IN THE SAND WITH SHORT TWEESERS IT WILL MOST LIKELY BE ME……………..FREQUENTLY PEOPLE STOP AND ASK US WHY WE ARE LYING DOWN OR WHY WE HAVE TWEESERS :0
MY SISTER (WHO IS MORE FLUFFY THAN I) ARRIVES ON THE 17TH WITH OUR 82 YEAR OLD AUNT SO WE WILL BE QUITE THE SIGHT AND LOVING EVERY MOMENT.
THERE IS A COMPUTER IN THE HOUSE SO WE WILL FOLLOW YOU DAILY.
JUST IN CASE YOU WANT TO MEET US FOR WE ARE QUITE FUN TO BE WITH MY HUSBANDS CELL IS 805 904 …..
AS FOR GUESSING WHAT CAME CRAWLING OUT OF THE SAND YESTERDAY I CAN ONLY SMILE THINKING WHAT PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GUESS IT IS…………….WHATEVER IT WAS IT WAS QUITE……………WELL NEVER MIND YOU DONT KNOW ME AND MIGHT GET THE WRONG IMPRESSION :)
YOUR SHELLING SISTER LINDA SALSBURY
P.S. DO YOU KNOW MEME AT THE SHELL SHOP IN TOWN? IF NOT YOU SHOULD GET TO KNOW HER SHE IS DELIGHTFUL.
HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY…WHO KNOWS WHAT GOD WILL SEND YOU ON THIS EASTER DAY.
Linda,
I think we met at the lighthouse last year! You and your sister were sifting through small shell piles- yep! with tweezers- and I stopped by to chat. Clark and I were looking for wentletraps and you told me that you and your sister make all sorts of crafts from your tiny treasures. Yes, I’ve met Judy (and her husband) and she does lots of craft projects too with her shells. I always love to see her on the beach and see what she’s picking up. I’m sure I will run into you! Email me when you know you’ll be at the lighthouse in the late afternoon.
Pam, your pictures show that you found some nice seashells. As for the worm-like animal, I do not believe that it is a part of a mollusk. However, it is much easier to say what it is not than exactly what it is. For sure, it is a marine invertebrate, but identifying exactly what family, genus & species is beyond my experience level. My best guess would be a sea anemone or one of the many worms. Most of the bivalves have their two siphons (incurrent and excurrent) together. Your picture appears to only have one such structure. Next time, dig it up and see what else is there. Then gently place it back in the sand. Taking care not to damage the soft body, I doubt that you will do any lasting damage.
As for the 3 baby ANGEL WINGS, I suspect that they are more likely to be the false angel wing, Petricolaria pholadiformis, which usually only gets about as big as you found them. You may want to look at the BMSM pictures and description, http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=274
If they are the false angel wing, they will not have the spoon-shaped structures under the umbones, which are present in the true angel wings, Cyrtopleura costata, http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=280.
Please let me know what you think. MurexKen
MurexKen! Yes, you are right! Those are false angel wings. I looked them up yesterday but wasn’t sure so thank you! I got sidetracked when I researched them because I found the name of the shell that we found tons of last year which was the fallen angel wing. We just kept calling them white razors (but we knew they weren’t razors)…..which brings me to this….. Just this morning, I got a call from my good friend Libby who said she had a few gifts for me. She brought me 3 old shelling books that I’ve never seen before. I looked through Kingdom of the Seashell by R. Tucker Abbott, Ph.D. copyright 1982 and found on page 42 a picture of an Ensis. Looks exactly like it! The problem is- the picture in the Abbott book was a black and white drawing so I think it’s the shell that is being drawn instead of the “guts” of it. Maybe you are right that it’s anemone. I’m going to put the picture on the shell museum’s face book page to see if Jose knows what it is.
ps- I corrected my post to say “false angel wings” thanks again!
killer pics. love the sunray venus. cool blog pammy. i hope to visit y’all sometime this year, maybe this fall.
love Doug
I’m coming to Sanibel at the end of April and I am wondering; I would love to go to Cayo Costa and am asking for information or preferances as far as charters/ ways to get there. I think about it every year and would appreciate any input from the happiest people I know- shellers!
I suggest looking at 2 websites…..Yolo (You Only Live Once) Watersports for a free-style type charter. It’s a smaller boat but he’ll take you to more secluded areas. The second website is Captiva Cruises for a larger boat that will drop you off at the south end of Cayo Costa to explore the shelling there. Both are excellent! Check ’em out.