I found a SEA HORSE! It was laying in the sand near some washed up sea grasses at Gulfside City Park. Yep, just laying in the sand and I screamed when I saw it. haha
I wanted to show my friend Diane where those little tiny SAND DOLLARS (sand “dimes”) were that I found the other day on my post Uber Cute Sand Dollars To Dimes . Unfortunately, we didn’t find the SAND DOLLARS but I did get to see Diane’s friends Cathie and Mary from St Louis, Wendy from The Keys and cutie Callie on the leash.
Since we didn’t find the minis, we started looking through all of the BEACH BLING. Wendy found a CRUCIFIX SHELL! She’s an experienced sheller so she knew immediately what it was when she saw it.
We were also finding MERMAID’S PURSES (SKATE EGG CASES). Sckeppy told me the other day “I’ve heard of skate egg cases being called “sailor’s purses”, with the observation that they are usually empty!”.
We found so many other EGG CASES as well! From left to right… a PEAR WHELK, LIGHTNING WHELK, PAPER FIG, BANDED TULIP and TRUE TULIP. We coudn’t find a TRUE TULIP to put under the egg case but we found half a BANDED TULIP to put underneath the EGG CASE (that grew around some sort of stick).
So when you see all sorts of BEACH BLING lining the beach, always look for special treasures like this SEA HORSE !
There’s always something to new to see and always new awesome friends to meet…
I looked for sea horses when I was shelling at gulfside city, but did’nt find any. I noticed the tulip shells were scarce this year.
Pat
I was on Sanibel the last week of Jan. and banded tulips were everywhere! Beach bounty changes daily! I wish I could figure out why some days there are lots of sand dollars, some days lots of lightning whelks, some days lots of nutmegs etc. It must have something to do with where you are in the tide cycle.
Pam, just got the shelling charts I ordered and they are so great I don’t want to part with them. Guess I will have to order more! MEM
The sea horse is so cool, what a great find! How do you preserve it?
I love learning new stuff on this site but that CRUCIFIX SHELL is very odd. I think if I had ever found one I would have thought it was bones of something!
It is not a shell but the bones of a fish.
Parker, Sharene is right. It’s only called a Crucifix “Shell” since it’s a collectable beachcomber piece- Beach Bling! Its the bones of a catfish that looks like a crucifix. Its said to bring good luck to whoever finds one. To see more posts on them… http://www.iloveshelling.com/blog/2011/03/30/southwest-winds-bring-sanibel-seashells/
I’m on sanibel island this week and am loving it. Staying at the sundial resort. I have found loads of treasures! My husband can’t get over how I can see a great shell from a distance. I told him it was my cyber shelling practice when watching your videos! Going to bowman s beach tomorrow! Hope I find something special there!
Great pic of the egg casings with their respective shells! Just out of curiosity, I noticed that the spiral of the lightning whelk casing is opposite that of the pear whelk. I was wondering if this is always true and is related to the left-handed opening of the lightning whelk?
This is amazing! We will be visiting in August for the third time-have never visited Gulfside City Park, we plan to now!
Oh wow nice seahorse!! Great crucifix.
Ill be down next week, along with the other million peeps!
Hope to see you there!
Who else will be there next week, 3/6-3/13
Cya,
Mary Ann
East Granby CT
I want a Sea Horse!
Love the Seahorse! I guess it wasn’t alive anymore? My daughter found a Pigmy Seahorse on Captiva back in April and it was still alive. I have a picture of the seahorse in a shell that my daughter is holding in her hand. We took a few pics and put it back, gently :)
I don’t believe in seahorses. After 30 years of diving and beach and searching, I have never seen one, and therefore must conclude that there is an international conspiracy to make me think they exist. Now I know you’re in on it…
Lol mark, I hope to find a unicorn soon to prove u wrong in that one too. Lol
There are many species of them in the Aquarium of the America’s in New Orleans. Come visit the area sometime and take a look. They are cute little buggers.
Yes there are seahorses My 5 year old grandson found a live seahorse last week on the beach in ocean city, md. It was astounding somewhat God like,that this little person found such a treasure. His favorite things to do are fishing with his pop pop and catching tad poles in his creek. He kept the live seahorse in his little bucket for a short time and then he knew he had to give it back to the ocean. Yes, do believe.
Great finds! Love that sea horse!
That is precious!
Wow, it must be seahorse week! Our neighbors found one, after 20 years of coming to Sanibel and walking the beaches. The next day, I found one too, really large, but headless. It was still cool. Found a small cruxifix too, the whole thing, so that was neat. We had a great week on Sanibel, already miss it!
Nice find on the seahorse – it looks in great condition too.
Does anyone know how large those seahorses can grow to be?
On our first trip to Sanibel a few yrs ago, we saw several “Mermaid’s purses”. Curiosity got the better of me one day, so I opened up the egg case to see what kind of creature was growing inside. (what is a skate, anyway?) PHew! Whatever had been growing was no longer living….never did find the “creature,” and it took me forever to get the stench off my fingers! :-)
great find Pam, I would have blacked out if it were me! haha
I caught a seahorse last time I was on the island. We were shelling in calm waves on the lighthouse side when one just swam by me! Looking down for shells I noticed him and easily scooped him up in my hands ! I admired him for a few seconds showed my husband and some close by children then let him go to swim away.
I found a sea horse a few years ago. In order to preserve it and protect it for the flight home, I packed it in salt, maybe not the preferred method, but it worked well for me. I put it in a zip bag with about 2 cups of salt then rolled the whole thing up and stuffed in a shoe. When I got home I opened the bag but left the horse in the salt for several days until it was thoroughly dessicated after that I brushed it off and still have it on display.
Hi Pam ,how are you? i wanted to say to you, how many seahorses did you find in sanibel on the beach?
in my 13 years, i have found about 50-55 seahorses. What person, in sanibel that you know, has got this number of seahorses? How much can cost a seahorse?
Alessandro, we don’t sell sea horses. The beauty of our area is that we like to see living creatures In their natural habitat. Some times after strong winds and heavy storms, sea horses will get caught in the waves and get tossed up on the beach. This is the only time we will collect a sea horse… When it dies naturally on the beach but it is a rare sight. That’s when I call it Beach Bling! :)