Juvenile horse conchs
Candy! I love my candy corn. We found 16 baby horsies at the lighthouse. There’s one little cutie murex in the picture too. See it?
Wentletraps
Clark and I found over 200 WENTLETRAPS and he found one BROWN-BAND WENTLETRAP. Once we found one, all of the others just showed up. It’s all about the eye. I took some video to show you how far from the beach we were and what they were near . I’ll try to get that together for you this week.
Minis!
We found 9 little DUSKY CONES, 2 cutie MARGINELLAS (oops! UPDATE 9-19-10: These are NOT marginellas. They are MELAMPUS shells. Thank you MurexKen. Please see post My Goodness Melampus) and a BABYS EAR.
So many minis!
There are so many different miniature shells in this photo! Can you recognize a few?
WOW!!!!!! I have been shelling for a long time, and have only accumulated 22 wentletraps….. :( Now I feel like an underachiever. LOL….. I am so envious and am eager to develop that ”EYE” you are talking about. GREAT FINDS!!!!!!
I love love love wentletraps. They are so delicate. The way they wind around just amazes me. The Lighthouse is always good for mini’s.
Love them minis ! Everyone always likes to go for the big ones , not me ! I enjoy the “hunt ” . What time of day do you go to the lighthouse to look for shells ? when we were there in mid July we went around 9 in the am & didn’t find any shells what so ever ! UGH !!!
Am I writing this in green ink? I wouldn’t be surprised because I am jealous, jealous, jealous! Good for you!
These are awsome!!
Ohhhhh….wentletrap heaven! Have the addiction and the eye, but 200 in one day?! I’m in the presence of greatness! My little sister is coming at Thanksgiving, and I’ll be there in spirit. She’ll be the one at the lighthouse end ALL DAY, skipping meals and braving the noonday sun to search through the “coffee grounds” high tide wash for wentletraps.
Envious… I just love the horse conch shells… can’t wait till the day I find a whole one.
Never found a wentle trap. I am so jealous.
Great shells, Pam. I look forward to your info as to how far from the water, etc. you found the wentletraps. I’m anxious to “discover” my motherlode when we return this fall. I’ve never found any wentletraps, so I need guidance on “developing an eye” for those.
weeeeee! we played hookie yesterday and went to lighthouse beach (first time-and it’s now our favorite!) and scored! tons of florida conchs in all sizes, several tulips, lots of periwinkles, lots of shark eyes, murexes, and lighning welks (2 of which were right handed!) whew! I’m sure I’m forgetting some…i’ll see if i can post pics.
2 right handed whelks!!!! I never even remember to look for them. We need to pay closer attention. That’s a score!
love them all (jealous)
thanks for letting me shell vicariously through you. :)
Color me green too :) I love those wentletraps and have never found any either. I always make a trip to Lighthouse Beach – but obviously don’t know what to look for. Cant wait for the video. Thanks Bunches!!
gotta love those baby shells. You guys hit the mother lode! Wish I was there to get some too. When I don’t find any shells worth keeping I sit down and start looking for those little guys and they always seem to show up. I go out to the causeway sometimes and find them there too.
When you find that many baby shells or wentletraps at one time does that mean that something caused them to all die? I know when we had the frost up by me this winter that olives in all sizes seemed to be the first shells that rolled in. All were in great shape and perfect colors. So I just wondered.
I’m sooooo jealous! No shells here at the Big E!
I have “Wenletrap Envy!” It is my very very favorite shell. I would probably need the rescue squad if I ever found that many.
Pam, As always, I love your pictures and shells. The mini shells are so much fun to collect. Since you have seemed to appreciate my previous comments concerning your shell ID’s, I offer another one. The two shells that you have listed as Marginellas (Prunum apicinum) are the Eastern Melampus or Salt-Marsh Shell (Melampus bidentatus), http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=151 and http://www.jaxshells.org/melcof.htm . They are pretty shells. Hope this information is helpful.
Wow..it’s like an early xmas gift from the sea :) We love Wentletraps,after a few minutes looking for them it becomes so easy :) Thanks for sharing.
I LOVE looking at all your pics. Thanks for sharing with us so faithfully. We are thinking of moving to the Fort Myers / Cape Coral area next summer. But I am wondering…what do you do with all these shells? I have a few from 2 visits but I couldnt imagine how many you have, and I’m a little concerned I may become a hoarder of seashells living so close!!! :)
We don’t keep many any more (except our faves like candies, wentles, cones, etc) but the ones we keep I display them in vessels and jars Take a look at my friend Jane’s displays and shell crafts at http://iloveshelling.com/blog/2010/07/06/she-decorates-with-seashells/
TO SARA (or anyone else that may know):
What is a right handed whelk?? Whelks are my favorite shell so far, but just getting started!!
So wonderful! I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to have such bounty at your doorstep. The minis make me smile :-))
My uncle found a strand of what looks like part plantlike tubular about 14 inches long, containing small 3-4 millimeter compartments. upon cutting open a compartment he was astounded to see between 14-18 small white nassa like shells. They were no more than 2 mm in length at best. they were found in the dennisport area of cape cod. I have been tring to find out exactly what they are. Does anyone know.
Thanks,
bobncharl
I do not know what they are either. I found some with my boyfriend I think. Here in Jacksonville Florida. At first glance we thought it was a large rattle that had come off of a rattlesnake. Then we found them everywhere and opened them to find these tiny little shells. Dying to know what they are too.
Hi Pam!
What fun! I love mini’s too.
Well, since you asked, :) I believe the (lace) murex is the orange shell directly to the right of the largest horsie – it’s more bumpy than the others and doesn’t have an obviously white tip, the tip is definitely orange and not as rounded as the others. Just an FYI, I tried to ID ALL of my shells collected on my last trip to Sanibel which included one of these and after a lot of research at the local library, and my own shell books, I narrowed it down to the lace murex juvenile – I believe it was the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum web-site that gave me my answer! Love that web-site! I don’t have the exact link, sorry! Let me know if I’m wrong on this ID!
LOL, I followed “bobncharl’s” comment over here and commented before I realized this is a two-year old post from you, Pam. Oh well! (It might be a good contest sometime to see if anyone could identify ALL the shells in that last photo. It’s a toughie!)