King's Crown ate a crab
This KING’S CROWN had a feast for lunch! Do you think he ate the claw too? I’m sure he did! He already ate the rest of the shell (?). These are the rest of the pictures from Easter but I was way too excited to blog about anything else but my big find of the 12″ WHELK. Sorry, you’ll probably get sick of me talking about that 12″ WHELK (heehee) so I’ll try to keep focused…..because these pictures are really cool!
Horse Conch seashell eats Lighning whelk
Isn’t this wild??? We saw many live shells that were eating other seashell species. They are so powerful that they just suck that other mullosk right out of their shell.
Horse Conch seashell lunches on whelk
This is how shallow the water was that he was found (and released) with his lunch.
Horse conch and king's crown
When you look into the shallow rippling water, some times you can’t really decipher what it is that you are about to pick up. Clark picked up this HORSE CONCH and this KING’S CROWN came with him. The HORSE CONCH had just sucked out the KING’S CROWN mullosk and spit the empty shell into Clark’s hand. Unbelievable.
Whelk egg casing in shallow water
I hope you can see what’s in this picture. It’s a very long and winding WHELK EGG CASING that looks like something from outer space. It looked like one end of this was dug into the sand. I’ve never seen a WHELK “birth” one of these casing so I’m not sure if they (she?) are under the sand when they do it or not. I wasn’t about to tug on it to find out. Remember, I’m far from a scientist and I don’t even play one on TV. ;)
Bright orange Horse conch
We ended up bringing home 13 KING’S CROWNS, a bunch of WORM SHELLS, a bright orange HORSE CONCH and of course, A TWELVE INCH WHELK.
Amazing!!!!! :)
How fun! Your pictures and posts are much appreciated here in St. Louis!
Wow! You had an incredible day shelling! First off – the 12 inch WHELK!! Yee-ha!! But I’ve never found Kings Crown and you found 13! Fabulous! What a great day! And yes – you have the right to keep on bragging! That’s one enormous whelk!
Fabulous shots, Pam! Now we can clearly see one reason why we find empty shells washed up on beaches. Very interesting post, I must say!
Pam
HI PAM………….
WE HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT……………….
WE LEAVE TOMORROW AND WILL BE IN TOUCH WHEN WE WILL BE AT THE LIGHT HOUSE………..I WILL PROBABLY WAIT UNTIL MY SISTER ARRIVES ON THE 17TH………..
SAVE SOME SHELLS FOR US :)
SANIBEL SISTER LINDA
P.S. I WILL FOLLOW YOU ON THE COMPUTER AT THE RENTAL HOUSE OR IF LUCKY RUN INTO YOU IN PERSON………………..NOW THAT YOU MENTION WHERE YOU SAW US IN SEPT I DO REMEMBER……..I .