Stripes and Spots – Tiny Florida Seashells
If you go to the beach looking to collect nice big seashells you may be disappointed. Some areas of Florida are known for their seashell offerings (Sanibel Island on the West coast, for instance), but not all Florida beaches are littered with shells.
Many of the prettiest shells you will see are tiny. You must look carefully as you walk along the beach.
These two little sea shells were collected along the gulf coast of Florida when my family visited Sanibel Island. They are small, only about 1/2 inch in length. I never knew what type of shells they were, but eventually I became interested in shell names and found out their scientific names.
I think these shells compliment each other nicely with matching colors in stripes and spots.
The rounded one with tiny stripes is a natica, which is in the family Naticidae along with Moon Snails and Shark’s Eye shells.
The little spotted shell is a “Babylonia spirata”. I’ve never collected another shell like it, but then I rarely go to Sanibel.
The shells I find on the East coast of Florida often differ from the ones on the West. For one thing shells here on the East are not as pretty and there is less of a variety. They are usually worn and broken from the waves and tides. The Gulf waters are calmer so shells don’t get as beat up. Different species like to live in calm water too, and they wouldn’t like it on the Atlantic side. I find my best (most interesting) shells while out boating in the backwaters. Often they are home to hermit crabs, so I take a picture and leave it where I found it.
Ark clam shells from East Coast beaches
If you visit the drive-on beach area in New Smyrna Beach the ark shells in my photo above are mostly what you will find, along with tiny coquina shells.
Shells from the Gulf Coast of Florida
You can see how colorful and varied the shells are that I collected on the opposite (West) side of the state!
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kayle
you should put seashells on your list of categories and list a lot of them so people can find out there names i would have liked this websight better if you had more seashell names i have went across a lot of web sights and i thought this would help me but it does not because you do not have a lot of names or have seashells in you list of categories and if you did add the seashells to your list i would come to this web sight a lot more often and would tell people about it but since you do not have that i am not going to share it because they would not like it so they would put words in it that you might not like and be mean about it
Pam
Hi Kayle, I do have seashells as a category in the top header section of this blog. I currently have two subcategories; “gastropods” (single shell mollusks) and “bivalves” (shells with two parts). Many people do not know the names of their shells and they search for information / shell names by size, color, etc.. I also don’t have photos of every type of shell, only the ones I have found and photographed in my relatively small local area.
I do appreciate your comment and suggestion and I will try to figure out a way to help my readers find shell names easier.
Thank you for reading and leaving your opinion.
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flandrumhill
It is such an excellent book and a classic. They just came out with a 50th anniversary edition. I don’t think you’ll have a problem finding a used copy.
flandrumhill
Such pretty shells!
Have you ever read Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s ‘A Gift from the Sea?’ She uses different seashells to represent the stages in a woman’s life. A Double Sunrise shell, a bivalve, is used to represent the exclusive relationship stage of a woman’s life. If you’ve never read it, I’m sure you would love it.
seashellsbymillhill
I have heard of the book, but haven’t read it. I’ll have to check it out. Thank you for the visit.