Whoa! Shark!
Naaaaa, it’s not the Jaws type shark so you don’t have to get out of the water for this one. Actually you want to get IN the water to see this type of creature… it’s a SHARK EYE (Neverita duplicata or as I always say “Shark’s Eye) seashell. Over the years of beach combing, we’ve been fortunate to have found these shells in so many different life stages to share with you so I thought this was the perfect week to sum up some of the cool things we’ve learned about the SHARKS EYE. Why not… it’s Shark Week!
When this MOLLUSK is still alive, its amazing to see the animal wrapped around it’s shell like we found in my post The No Place Like Home On Sanibel.
Here’s a video of a live SHARKS EYE in action I filmed for a post in 2011…
We only see the live SHARKS EYES at low tide scooting around in the sand but we seem to find a lot of empty SHARKS EYE shells washed up on Sanibel and Captiva especially after storms. We started to realize we don’t normally find the operculums. When Clark and I found another live one, we paid closer attention to the operculum to see exactly what it looked like so we could make sure not to miss one washed up on the beach. Why don’t we find them washed up on the beach more often? Dunno exactly but I’m assuming because they are so paper thin that they crumble easily when the animal dies and dries up. They also look like a small piece of broken PEN SHELL or a brown leaf so they are easy to overlook. Anyway, here’s what the OPERCULUM looks like when it’s attached to the healthy animal still in his shell…
Almost a year after I made this video, low and behold, Clark found our first SHARKS EYE OPERCULUM washed up on the beach.
We’ve also seen juvie live SHARKS EYES sliming around finding their way…
We’ve seen lots of other live babies scooting around at low tide on Sanibel along with teeny tiny eggs in the SHARK EYE EGG COLLARS.
This is what the EGG COLLAR looks like that the female SHARKS EYE lays. If you see a ring like this while at the beach that feels and looks sort of like freshly made hand crafted paper, take a closer look then place it back in the water if that’s where you found it. There are hundreds of itty bitty baby SHARKS EYES in there. Cool, huh?
What do SHARKS EYES eat? They are carnivores who love to make a meal out of bivalves but at times they are cannibals …. so one SHARKS EYE will eat another SHARKS EYE. (Hmmmm… that happens with the fish type Tiger Sharks too on occasion). You can tell another SHARKS EYE ate this SHARKS EYE in the next photo because it makes a beveled edge hole just like this. CLICK HERE to see that story.
There are two types of these MOON shells that look similar and are hard to distinguish between the two of them. See how much higher the spire is on the shell on the left? The one on the right is a Neverita duplicata (SHARK EYE) and the one on the left is a Neverita delessertiana ( FALSE SHARK EYE) I’ll do another post to show you the aperture side so you can see another difference but I usually just look for the “eye” that looks popped out.
Have you heard me talk about the “Paul Newman’s Eye”? Paul Newman was an Academy Award winning hunky actor known for his incredibly beautiful, brilliant blue eyes (I know, funny I thought I needed to explain who he was, right? But anybody under 30 might not know! LOL Oh wait y’all would know “Newman’s Own”- thats the guy. haha) Anyway, not all SHARKS EYES have a blue center but when they have that handsome brilliant blue “eye”… it’s called a PAUL NEWMAN’S EYE.
See how many different sizes and patterns they have. Gorgeous!
I had so many nice comments on my last post about the differences in SCALLOPS and that y’all really like my educational posts. Me too! I have oodles of photos and gobs of great information about shells AND beach bling that I’ve built up over the years, so I need to start combining them so we all can find the information a little easier. It’ll take a while, but it sure will be fun looking through so many older posts that have been buried by newer posts.
Dont worry, I’ll still post any shelling updates on the beaches but hopefully once a week I’ll pick a shell to research so we can see all the cool stuff we’ve learned over the years.
But speaking of shelling updates… I hope to see you tomorrow on our iLoveShelling cruise to Cayo Costa with Captiva Cruises at 9am- Come join us tomorrow! CLICK HERE for information and some new dates for iLoveShelling Shelling Adventures into February 2015 …
This is great – a wonderful educational resource. Looking forward to more…!
The Shark’s Eye may not be a shark, but it sure is a dangerous predator for any smaller mollusk that lives in the sand. The big Shark’s Eyes will eat any kind of sand-living bivalves and as you say, other moon snails too. The tiny baby ones will even eat tusk shells. Anything they can find!
Oh by the way Pam, when you wrote the text here, your spell checker automatically changed the species name “duplicata” to “duplicate”.
Ack! Yes you are right Susan, it changed the a to an e! Thanks so much for letting me know- I changed it back but it still wanted to correct me LOL :)
Really good information on Shark’s Eyes. We used to have oodles of them up here on the NJ shore beaches but now they are getting scarce. I have so many I have collected over the years, it is good to get the information on all the types.
Thank you for all your information on I Love Shelling.
Can you tell me how how to reserve a spot for your shelling cruise to Cayo Costa on Nov. 10? I am so pumped that I will be on the island to join you. It will be my last day of my week celebration of retirement after 25 year of service at the local branch of our county library.
Shellabration, good times!
Cindy, so excited you’ll be here for the November cruise! Yay! Just call Captiva cruises at 239-472-5300 to reserve ur spot.
Love your educational posts too. The pen shell is full of Paul Newman eyes. Do some of the shells fade or are the bright eyes a sub species? Keep up the good work. Pat
The blue “eye” fades really fast once the shell is dead and rolling around in the surf. And also how blue that part of the shell is varies a bit from individual to individual, even when the animal is live.
another great post,i didn’t know there was a false sharks eye so I’ve learned something else again. these postsv really help thank you sincerely r.g.stein
Is the false shark eye the same as a natica or colorful like you have on your shell card?
No the false shark’s eye is not the same as the colorful natica. It is another species, quite closely related to the regular shark’s eye. For a long time scientists thought both sharks eyes must be just two forms of one species, but in the end a DNA analysis proved beyond doubt that they are separate species. The underside of the shells of the two shark’s eyes is quite different if you look carefully.
Thank you!
thank you so much for all the wonderful information you share with us. I have learned so much from your site and look forward to more . Really love the live video such as the one above on the sharks eye!! :)
very cool. i’ve only ever found a piece of a shark’s eye. see you in 15 days!!!
Looking at my collection of Shark’s eye shells, I noticed some have a dark purple blob on the back near the aperture, and others have a tan-brown. Any idea on why that is? They came from the same location, same beach in Florida…
That blob is called the “umbilical callus”, which partly or completely covers the “umbilicus”, the hole in the middle of the underside of the shell. The color of the callus varies according to how fresh the shell is (it fades over time), and also there is also some natural color variation between individual shells.
That is one of my favorite shells. I don’t have any that big tho. You have some beauties there.
Thanks for the information i have always wondered where those holes come from by the way this is an awesome blog!
Just saw my first live one today while we were out at Caladesi. I don’t usually bother to identify the shells I find out there, but lately we’ve found a lot of live animals in their shells, and it’s so interesting then to find out what they are. The one I found today must be a baby as it was nowhere near as big as the ones you show here. Holy shark eye!
I came across your site the first time a while back when looking up lettered olives after finding a live one also out at Caladesi. And now I use you for all of my shell identification! What a great resource you are! Thank you!
Omg I’m so excited about coming to Sanibel. I love combing the beach. Your website is awesome! Thanks so much.
I have just found your blog and I love it. We have visited Sanibel many times, but not since the 1990’s. My husband and I (both retired) are planning a trip, possibly in September. I have looked at the tide and moon charts, but can not determine the best time to visit for optimum shelling. We are open to any dates after September 10. We plan on staying at least a week (or possibly 2). Could you possible make some date suggestions for us? Thanking you in advance.
I have a shell I can not figure out.. sharks eye with an extention on it