Ribbed Cantharus
It was a great beach day today with calm, warm weather in the 70’s even though it was hard to find any un-picked-over shell piles. I did, however, find these little RIBBED CANTHARUS that look like they’d fit right in with my little horsies (JUVENILE HORSE CONCHS) in my “candy” dish.
Tinted Cantharus
While I was getting info on the RIBBED CANTHARUS, I realized that I had found this TINTED CANTHARUS last week and had no idea they were related. So the happy cousins get to hang out together to start a new “candy ” dish.
I introduced myself to Neal and Natalia from Florida’s east coat after I snapped this photo of them gazing at the sunset in each others arms. So sweet!
That sunset is amazing!!!!
I’ve seen those before & thought they were little horse conchs. Since I started trying to learn the Latin names I’m starting to notice some shells I never paid attention to before. Or maybe it’s just because pickins have been slim & I’ll pick up anything these days :D
I thought they were baby horsies too. Thanks for the info, Pam. Hope everyone is keeping warm out there. I home from work today because of the ice storm, just hoping our electricity stays on this time.
Going to log on to the Sanibel web cams right now to try to warm up.
Good for you, Pam, Glad to see that you are starting to look at some of the smaller shells. Pretty soon you will be showing us the Gulf oyster drill (Urosalpinx perrugata), http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=77 , the Sharp-rib drill (Eupleura sulcidentata), http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=73 , the Mauve-mouth drill (Calotrophon ostrearum), http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=70
and the Pitted murex (Favartia cellulosa), http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=74 . Then there are the dove shells and the turrids, amoung many others. Our past visit to Sanibel Island I found a small beauty, the Aaron dwarf triton (Tritonoharpa lanceolata), http://shellmuseum.org/shells/shelldetails.cfm?id=108 . Small is beautiful.
yum!! & what a beautiful sunset photo.
Gosh, Pam, I’ve been sitting here for a while (ok, hours….ever since receiving the there’s-a-blizzard-coming-so-schools-are-closed alert at 6 this morning!) exploring your website. I love how much more I’m learning, not just about seashells, but about our favorite island and surrounding areas as well, through your blog. Thank you so much for your wealth of knowledge and awesome pictures. Looks like us northerners will have plenty of time to read every entry and click on every link you’ve provided us with as we are homebound by this “colossal storm”. Yipee! We’ll be back down in March, but in the mean time your blog and sunny yellow and white striped beach tote keeps that smile on my face (it’s hanging on a hook in the kitchen). Hope to bump into you on the beach soon!
You get nice sun sets there! Have a good day.
Learn something new everyday – thanks Pam
I am so happy about your post today! I had so much fun going through all of mine, my hubby’s and my children’s seashells as we organized them. We loved naming them as we put them away. Of all of them, there were two that we couldn’t figure out. After looking through your blog and the shell museum’s pictures, we figured that one of them was a Mauve-Mouth Drill. I still couldn’t figure out the other though. And now after this post, I know it is a Tinted Cantharus! Thank you! I’ve realized the “tinies” are my favorite.
Coming down this Saturday. Hopefully the shelling will be good..no great! Chance of rain I see but I’m keeping my fingers crossed :( …Usually we leave Brandon Fl around 3 in the morning to get there for first morning picking on Saturday at the Lighthouse but, with the new sandbar over at the pass I’m debating on going to the Pass first or the lighthouse..Such a dilema!!! Haven’t been down since the sandbar showed up and I’m having shell picking withdrawals..Is there a S.P.A. (Shell Pickin Anonymous) group to join!!
I’ll be there at the meetings with you.
Ribbed cantharus is one of my favorites! Some people call this shell a “false drill”. The freshies can have really nice color, like that intense orange similar to a horse conch. But there’s also a banded/striped version.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments- it’s so much fun to learn about our favorite beauties!