Boom Shellalaka! Shelby found a SCOTCH BONNET on Sanibel’s Lighthouse Beach.
It’s abshellutely gorgeous. (Her name should be spelled Shellby! heehee)
After 5 days of a non-stop rain storm, there were lots of shells rolling in with every tide in this little stretch of the beach. (You can see the Sanibel causeway in the background)
Debi (she’s now a volunteer Shell Museum shell ambassador :) ) along with her friends Eden, Wendy and Ansley found an unbelievable, very rare piece of beach bling.
They said they found something they couldn’t identify then showed me this spectacsheller beach find. I took one look then my jaw dropped … Holy Cowrie! It was the most brilliantly colored MOLLUSK EGG CASE cluster I’ve ever seen. It’s the first time I had seen this particular egg so it puzzled me but I kept thinking it’s got to be in the MUREX family. Maybe a CABRITS MUREX? It was no longer viable being washed up on the beach so I encouraged them to take it to the Shell Museum for Dr Leal to identify. They did!
This is a colony of ROCK SNAIL (Stramonita floridana) EGG CASES attached to a PEN SHELL. Dr Leal has never seen such a large group of these eggs before so he was thrilled to have it in the museum collection. This photo is not filtered or touched up or any coloring added to it…. it was truly soooo amazingly colorful. Look at those purples…
Can you see the turquoise color in the egg cases in this one? It looks like paint brush bristles dipped in my favorite paint colors! Its a shelleidoscope of colors!
On Big Hickory beach, Diane found a JUNONIA! Congrats Diane…. Shellzam!
Okay yall, if you missed it…. I have exciting news. I’ve published a book! It’s hot of the press and Ive just gotten it into some of the local stores retailing for $12.99 at Congress Jewelers, Suncatcher’s Dream, MacIntosh Books, Captiva Cruises, Pelican’s Roost, our Sanibel CVS and in the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum.
More fabshellous news… I’m doing a book signing on National Seashell Day at the Shell Museum on June 21 from 12:30 to 1:30.
Come hang out with us!
Wanna see a preview? Or buy a copy online? CLICK HERE
I bought your book yesterday. Very cute!
Thank you Jane!!! :)
Wow… what a gorgeous egg cluster — really amazing!
Pam, I’m so glad we got to see you! What a fun morning. Thank you for encouraging us to take the egg cases over to the shell museum and for taking such great pictures of them! Ironically, I found my first Rock Snail on Sanibel after we found the Rock Snail egg cases. 😎🐚
All amazing finds, but those egg cases are something else! Will the colors stay as it ages? If so that’s incredible. And it sure seems like a lot of junonias have been found the last 2 months. Hoping to finally find mine….. sigh.
All the finds are wonderful. My jaw dropped as well when I saw the amazing colors on the egg casing, it’s gorgeous!
I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO SANIBEL ISLAND. SHELLING LOOKS LIKE SOOO MUCH FUN!!!
A FRIEND LEAD ME TO THIS SITE.
WILL BE MAKING PLANS WITH MY HUSBAND TO VISIT SOON!! ;0
Congratulations, Pam, my shelling idol! Can hardly wait to get your book in July! My fingers are itching to go shelling again-it’s been since April!
Congrats on your book, Pam! Looking forward to getting one for us. Another great excuse to come back to the best island there is!!!
Thank you for sharing all that you do….including your TIME!!!
you never cease to amaze me you are so full off things that all shellers should now and you share it daily with everyone you meet ‘m so lad that I met you and we had such a great trip to big hickory and now that my heart issue is over and done with I planto go to cayo costa January 16 th or february 10 th a place I’ve never been see you then sincerely r.g. stein your friend.
Hi Pam – adore your passion for all things shells!
We are staying on Captiva at South Seas for the next 2 weeks…great storm Miss Emily! If you were me where would you head at low tide? Thanks for your inside tips – maybe I will see you on the beach!?
Happy shelling~
Angie
Pam, can you ifenify a shell for me, please? We just got back from Sanibel (went shelling with you on Cayo Costa on November 20). Going through my shells and see what might be a hunevile junonia. Appreciate your help with this, Pam.
Pam, I’d love to buy your book, but this information is from 2017. It is now April 2022. I have been collecting shells for years, up and down the east coast. Many years from the gulf shores of Florida and the east coast of Florida. In May of this year we are going to spend a week at Deerfield Beach. I’d love to look for shells, but in the last few years we haven’t found ONE sea shell from the gulf shores all the way around to the Atlantic side. What has happened to all of them? If you could give me any hints on how to look for shells, I would appreciate it!