AHA! I’m tickled that I just found another type of WENTLETRAP! I found three BLADED WENTLETRAPS (Epitonium albidum) at the Sanibel Lighthouse Beach yesterday afternoon. This will make my 6th different variation of the Wentletrap family I’ve found in SouthWest Florida. I can now add this one to the other five wentles I talked about last year (in November) in the post How To Find Wentletrap Shells On Sanibel…
These are clearly different from the other WENTLETRAPS I have found. So after finding these three unusual tiny shells, I raced home to see which ones they were. It’s the BLADED WENTLETRAP! You see how the ribs form a straight line? Most of the others don’t form that straight line from top to bottom.
I love to find a shell that is new to me!
Finding WENTLETRAPS at Lighthouse Beach hasn’t been as easy as it was last year when those big areas of what looked like the coffee grounds showed up most weeks. The winds and currents just haven’t been right for the last several months to wash them in so I’ve just had to look a little harder and stoop a little lower. Hmmmm…. not a bad thing to have to do to find treasure. Especially when these are your surroundings!
Before I found my wentles I started seeing quite a few minis lining the shore at the water’s edge. I found all of these in about 10 minutes all in the same wrack line. I do have one ANGULATE WENTLETRAP in my palm under the CONE but its sort of hidden.
Then I found a few more different shells and a piece of CORAL in the low tide pools as well. Check out my SEASHELL IDENTIFICATION page if you need help identifying any of the shells… just CLICK HERE
But then I found all three of the BLADED WENTLETRAPS  in the same line pretty close together in the same line. Now you can see how small they are…
I met cutie pies Richard and Dendy from Mississippi enjoying their seashell treasure hunt on this beautiful afternoon. They had found a few MUREXES, CONCHS and also some minis too like a few WENTLETRAPS.
But I couldn’t get over this sweet juvie GAUDY NATICA (COLORFUL MOON SHELL) Dendy found. Look how tiny! It’s a Shellipution! LOL
There’s always something fun to find in those little shell lines at the Lighthouse Beach at low tide. You just have to take your time, enjoy the hunt and get down low in stoop position.
Join me on a Shelling Adventure!
Thank you!!!! I have poured over my wentletraps & books trying to determine how to correctly ID them! I finally see it!
Thank you. I just looked threw the ones I have from Lighthouse beach. Found 4 BLADED WENTLETRAPS.
FYI. Through !
My favorite shell! I think I have all the ones you have also. Always found the most at the Lighthouse point too. Most of our mini’s are found there….up in the “coffee grounds” like you said. Awesome ! Thanks for sharing Pam!
Very nice! Might there be some connection between November and wentletraps?
:-D
We found a couple of wentletrap when we were staying at Tropical Winds back in July. Simply beautiful!
Thanks for the post. Great information. I am sure that I have some of the Bladed Wentletraps, but did not know about their identifying features. The ribs or costa in a straight line is so helpful. Thanks, MK
Pam, I will never forget when you showed me how to look for wentletraps at lighthouse beach. It is one of my favorite shells – and I guess I didn’t know about the bladed ones – will have to look at my stash when I get to Sanibel on Monday! See you soon!
Wow, we must have just missed you, we were at lighthouse yesterday afternoon! Not much luck there, but low tide at blind pass-Captiva side today was great. Lots of conchs and some olives. Surf was so rough we couldn’t catch all those olives, but we are going back tomorrow.
Love all the shells-gaudy natica, lightning whelk and the wentletraps! I’ll have to get my wts out again and try to ID them-they’re so small and the eyes are not what they used to be. I haven’t been to the lighthouse that much, so most of the wts that I found were on other beaches.
Pat
Last time we were on Sanibel I gained a new appreciation for the lighthouse beach! I found me some wentletraps there, too! Now I have to look and see what kind they were! Looking forward to returning!
Have you seen the new book “Encyclopedia of Texas Seashells”? If has 8 pages of wentels! Dr. Leal wrote an editorial review and is referenced several times throughout the book. It’s everything you would expect from an encyclopedia, and it applies not just to Texas but to the entire Gulf and down to S America. Pam, with your love of minis, the micro-photography will blow your mind to shell and back. Every shell is shown from 2 angles. My greedy little hands keep trying to snag the shells right off the heavy stock pages. If I could spare 8 lbs in my suitcase, this glorious book would be in my suitcase on my trip to Sanibel in January; but I’ll be needing that weight allowance for shells on the return trip (I’m an optimist). Enjoy!
Gina, thank u for the info on the book! I will definitely get that one to add to my collection. I have no doubt you will find lots of treasures to fill your suitcase so pack lightly! Dr leal saw this WT and agreed that it was a bladed WT and asked me if I have found more of his name sake… The Leal’s (leali) Wentletraps. No, I. Just feel lucky to have found even one.
Hope to find some of those wentle traps Monday when I get to Sanibel
You’re going to Sanibel Monday? You lucky duck! Have a fabulous time!
in my experience albidum is at least as frequent as angulatum, tying for no. 1 and no 2 as the most common Epitonium i have seen on Sanibel. As one poster noted above, it may just be a matter of going back and checking your prior finds!
Steve, Clark and I have hundreds and hundreds of WTs. Of our finds, angulates are our most common… like about 90% of our collection… but of course I could be wrong in the ID but I looked through the whole batch to do that first post when I realized that we had those 5 different ones.
We have those here in Cayman!
Always love finding new shells! Also loved the juvie gaudy nautica. Will be searching for some in person this weekend! Maybe I will see you on the beach
:-).
Congrats on the great find, Pam!! I’m gonna have to go home and try to identify my wentletraps. Shouldn’t take me long since I’ve only ever found TWO (both at Lighthouse Beach). LOL! Hoping to get back to Sanibel soon as I haven’t been there in a while and I’m missing it!! Maybe I’ll get lucky and find another couple wentletraps to add to my paltry little collection. ;-)
Genine, good for you, I have not been able to find a single wenteltrap. I have certainly tried hard enough looking in all the coffee ground wrack lines. Happy shelling to you L-O-R-E-E
Mmmmmm, wentletraps… my favorites!
To Pam and all shellers, I am counting the days until I can perform the Sanibel Stoop again…Dec. 20th…coming soon. The fascination never ends…LOVE this website.From the cold Midwest…I can’t wait! Debbie T. See you there!
Pam,
I just LOVE your blog! It’s the first thing that I check in the morning, and it’s what I read several times throughout the day. I don’t mind waiting anywhere now because it gives me time to catch up on the iloveshelling archives. I think I’ll go into withdrawal when I’m all caught up with the archives! I’m looking forward to meeting you on the cruise in December, and I’ll remember to bring what I hope is a right-handed lightning whelk for you to examine in person.
Debi
oh Debi- you have made my day! Thank you so much for such a kind note! It will be so much fun to meet you in December and to see that whelk. its not long now!
WT’s are my husband’s favorite shell. He loves your WT posts!