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- Land snail top
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- Land snail bottom
Cheri couldn’t identify this shell so she sent me this photo to try to get some help on naming it. Well? At first look, I thought it might be a bleached out land snail but she said she found it at low tide in April on Sanibel……doesn’t sound like a land snail would have been there. I did a little research and this is what I came up with- JANTHINA (?) . I didn’t find it on the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum site so I’m still not sure. Hopefully, MurexKen or another expert will comment so we can feed the curiosity.
May 15, 2010 UPDATE: We have identification on this shell. It is a land snail. Please see MurexKen’s comment for more identification. Thank you, Lori at http://snailsrock.org/snailblog/ as well. Both of you “rock”!
This situation is not an uncommon one. A shell is found on the beach or even in the water. It does not look like any familiar/common, local seashell. Is it an exotic seashell that is “out-of-place” or is it a land snail that by some means got on the beach? In this case, the pictured shell is not a seashell, which is the reason it is not pictured on the BMSM website. It is a land snail, but its correct ID is beyond my knowledge base. I just received an email message from Lori S., who is both a seashell collector and a land snail collector. You can see some of her land snail pictures at http://snailsrock.org/snailblog/. In any case, Lori agrees that the pictured shell is a land snail and tells me it is Zachrysia provisoria (Pfeiffer 1858). Lori gives the following websites that have additional information and pictures of this shell: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in275 and http://www.jaxshells.org/gallery6.htm. Lori further states that “I have found this species on Sanibel myself, and, I have also found it at low tide out by the second sand bar in from of your condo (Middle Gulf Drive) during a winter low tide.” So, in summary, your initial impression of a bleached out land snail appears to be correct. Hope this helps. MK
Thank you one and all for the help!! I guess I’m ‘a little disappointed’! as MurexKen stated I was hoping for an exotic seashell!! Thanks again for all the help!!
It sure looks like a land snail…….but a little hard to tell from a picture. I have found them on the beaches as well. They seem to feed on dead vegetation such as leaves found near beach accesses, dunes, and in gardens at home. So…..it would be logical that someone could find one near a low tide line. Possibly swept away from dune area during an extremely high tide.
Cheri, don’t be disappointed. That is a nice shell that most people have never found on Sanibel Island. You did well to notice that your shell was unusual. Many of the people visiting Sanibel would not have known that. Although I do not know your experience level visiting Sanibel/Captiva or collecting shells, you will most probably find some exotic shells on the island beaches, if you continue to look for them. Every time I visit Sanibel I find something different. During this past winter, I found a milk conch (aka Strombus costatus), which is also not listed on the BMSM website of southwest Florida seashells, http://shellmuseum.org/shells.cfm. Now, the shell I found was not in very good shape, but it confirmed that milk conchs live close enough to Sanibel Island that they occasionally wash up on the beaches. You just never know what you will find when you are shelling on Sanibel & Captiva islands. That is one of the many reasons that it is so much fun to visit these “shell islands”. Pam, with her ILoveShelling blog, is doing a great job of showing many of these shells, the people who collect them and lots of other Sanibel/Captiva related things. Thanks Pam.
Thanks MurexKen…and Yes…Thanks Pam….You keep me going when I can’t be there with your great coverage of all the activities!! Thanks So much!!
My pleasure! I love a mystery solved.