Image by mathewingram via Flickr
I am not a seashell expert, just an everyday person who has recently taken an interest in identifying the Florida shells I have collected over the years.
While walking the Florida beaches during the many years I lived there, picking up pretty seashells was just part of life. It was something to keep the kids happy on vacation and we always went home with a bucket of their favorite shells. …..continue reading
The jackknife clam is an unusual shape and you’ll be able to identify it right away as the one that is sometimes called the “fingernail” shell.
Long (3-4 inches) and whitish colored, the shell is curved in a fashion resembling someones overgrown fingernail. We used to find them along the eastern shore of Florida.
I recently had a reader on my Seashell Identification page ask what it was. She found hers near Panama City. My reference book says that the green jackknife (Solen viridis) is often found in north Florida and has more of a straight edge on one side, and the other type is called the minor jackknife (Enis minor).
Some of My Seashells
Even if you live miles from the ocean or don’t have any seashells yourself, you can give a gift of seashells to your child’s school.
Recently my eighth-grader came home and actually told me what he was doing in school. “We are studying shells”, he said. Then he stuffed himself with junk food and disappeared into his room to play video games. Continue reading
Art by Strangeling
The amazing artwork of strangeling, aka Jasmine Becket-Griffith, features the chambered nautilus seashell. The artist admits in the description of the piece pictured here, that she “loves to paint them” and she does a fantastic job of it too!
I am not a painter, and have always loved to see what talented people can do with some brush strokes and I’ll admit that Jasmine’s sea themed pictures are alluring.
Her style is gothic, and although I am not into goth, many of her pieces are so pretty. I also love the one entitled “By the Seaside” which has two little ocean fairies playing with shells at the shore.
Read more about the Chambered Nautilus sea creature.
Image via Wikipedia
I don’t live on Sanibel and I haven’t even visited the Island in Florida for almost 20 years, but fortunately I know of a great blogger who lives there and shares her shelling knowledge with the world.
Recently she posted some photos of four small, similar-looking seashells that she had collected from the beach and without a keen eye, you may think they were all the same.
Pam does a nice job of pointing out the differences between the Mauve-mouth drill, Pitted Murex, Ribbed Cantharus, and the Gulf Oyster Drill. Go see!
My Atlantic Deer Cowry and Tiger Cowry Shells
One type of the Cowry shell was once widely used as currency. It is called the Money Cowry! 
The shells can be large or small and have a very shiny shell.
The Tiger cowry is spotted with dark brown blotches and the Atlantic Deer cowry (Macrocypraea cervus) is lighter tan with light spots. Mine is four inches long.
I used to think that the lighter colored of my cowies was a Measled cowry, but they have dark centers in the spots on their sides, and mine doesn’t.
Image via Wikipedia
Besides it’s domed shape, the outstanding feature of the cowry is it’s glossy shell.
As you can see in this image from Wikipedia cowries come in an amazing array of colors and sizes and they are so shiny that it almost seems like they are made of glass or porcelain.
Help yourself to the free coloring page printout of my cowry seashells below. Just click on the picture and print.
Cowry shells
