Because I have a few big sand dollars myself, I will include pictures of the ones in my collection to highlight the different types of sand dollars you may find while beach-combing.
I have three whole sand dollars, although the little one is slightly broken. We may call them shells, but they are not. They are ‘tests’ and are really the outer skeletons of the creature who made them. They are really echinoderms, like the sea urchin, sea cucumber and sea star (starfish). And they don’t start off white. Once the animal dies, the sand wears off their fuzzy outer coating, and the sun bleaches them. In life, they are colorful and can be green, purple, or brown.
Arrowhead
In my photo here on the left, is the large, four inch arrowhead. It is flat and has a series of lines on the backside. I can hear the “jaws” rattling around inside. Those jaws are what move to digest the sand dollar’s food.
There are different types of sand dollars. The keyhole sand dollar is similar to the arrowhead, but has five small holes. The notched sand dollar has holes along the edge.
The holes are used in part for helping the creature sink into the sand, where it lives and feeds.
The arrowhead and sea biscuit / sea cookie sand dollars
The little sea cookie is very fragile, and is broken as you can see. Sand dollars are delicate and will break easier than most shells. If you find a whole one on the beach, wrap it in something to carefully bring it home to clean. If a sand dollar is buried in the sand, it may still be alive, so leave it there!
The keyhole sand dollar below was found on a Florida beach. A woman walked up to me and said, “Here, would you like this sand dollar?” Or something like that. So I said “Sure!” We were both walking near Ponce Inlet at Smyrna Dunes Park.
Keyhole sand dollar
Sand Dollars For the Home
For the love of sand dollars, decorate a coastal home. My own sand dollar images have been used for the pillows, blanket, and Christmas stocking and ornament below.
The Crown Conch (Melongena corona) seashell, sometimes called a King’s Crown , is one I see often when out on the islands beach-combing. Because of it’s distinctive pointy spikes around the outer swirls of the shell, I can easily recognize it.
Crown conch with abundance of spiky points all around
It’s a pretty shell with horizontal brown, reddish or gray, and off-white stripes on the adults. I have not seen a living crown conch. Juvenile shells can be other colors like the purple-blue one below – what a beauty!, and the tan one at the end of this post.
Blueish-purple juvenile crown conch shell
Usually, when I see them, the colors are partially obscured by slime – as are most of the shells I find. The part of the shell that has been dragging along the sand is most colorful.
Crown conch underwater – look closely and see the hermit crab carrying it along
This recent find stood out to me because of all those spikes! This is really a lot, compared to the ones I usually find (photos further down the page).
Crown conch seashell – about 3 inches longStripes and spikes of the crown conch shell
Juvenile crown conchs will not have those big spikes, but will grow them later on. I found a small one (photo below) but it had a hermit crab inside. So it will never grow up. Hermit crabs don’t kill mollusks that make the shells, but they never miss an opportunity to take possession of an empty shell!
Juvenile crown conch (I believe) with hermit crab inside
Once the mollusk dies, hermit crabs move in. In the area where I fish and beach-comb the bottom is sometimes mucky, and that carries over to the shells. Often they are not pretty. Slime and even oysters can be growing inside, or barnacles on the outside.
Home to a hermit crab
The huge shell below was one I collected because it was empty. It is broken and worn and the mollusk was obviously old when he died. He’d had plenty of time to create this oversized shell. Max size of the crown conch is 5 inches, and this one measured 6 inches plus. Because it’s not very pretty, it now has a home in my garden. Empty ones can be cleaned, but I didn’t go nuts with this broken one. The green and black slime fades away once the shell sits in the hot sun.
Huge, old crown conch shell – 6 inches
As you can see in many of the photos on this page, the spikey shells also have some spikes near the base of the shell.
Spikes top and bottom
I live in central Florida on the East coast. Over on the Gulf coast lives a lucky lady who gets to see some awesome seashell happenings.
Here’s a video of baby King’s Crown shells hatching.
May 2020, a walk on the mud flats at low tide brought me to this beauty of a crown conch partially buried. The colors were so unusual and dark.
This crown conch is alive and half buried. Love that shell color!
This is an old blog post, re-purposed, re-written, and hopefully more interesting, about identifying Murex seashells. Murex shells have a variety of appearances. They are of the family Muricidae.
I will only write about the Florida shells here except to mention the shells I have in my collection, which are not from this area. I don’t personally have any of the Florida-found murexes so I will include links to online sites where you can see pictures.
Pink-mouthed murex seashell in my collection
I’ve had a “pink murex” for a while now, but I believe the true name is “Pink-mouth Murex” (Phyllonotus erythrostomus). The seashell collection I inherited contains more of these same Murex shells along with a black murex, or Nigrite Murex – see more about that one at the end of this page.
That pretty white shell with the pink inside is not a species found near Florida. The only book I have which mentions it is my Seashell Compendium and the notes say it is found from Western Mexico to Peru. I have no idea where the previous owner acquired it.
Murex Shells Found in Florida
But, you can find other types of murex shells in Florida. They are listed below.
The Giant Eastern Murex (Murex fulvescens) can be found in Florida along the Eastern seaboard but especially in northern Florida. It eats bivalves and prefers oysters and lives on sand in deep water.
Patricia B Mitchell has a photo of one here which was collected in South Carolina. And the iNaturalist.org site has a whole page of great shell photos from small and juvenile to old and scarred. When and if you find one it may have spikes or they may be worn down.
Identifying features are: rounded apertures, or openings. The body has widely separated ridges with hollow spikes. Coloring is white, or off-white to gray, but buried shells can turn more black (Read about black shells here). Juveniles won’t have pronounced spikes, just small bumps. It is the largest of the Florida murex shells and can be seven inches high.
2. The Lace Murex, or Florida Lace Murex (Chicoreus floriferous dialects) is smaller than the Giant Eastern Murex, max 3+ inches high. According to the National Audubon Society shell book, it is the most common murex in Florida, and it can be found all around the state with prominence on the Keys and Gulf coast. Like the other murexes it eats bivalves by drilling into the shell. It is also whitish in color with possibly some brown, but the juvenile shell is bright pink! See some excellent photos of the Florida Lace Murex (including that bright pink baby) at the Baily Matthews Shell Museum site, and be sure to scroll beneath the featured image to see more, including an egg case.
3. The Apple Murex (Chicoreus pomum) seems to be a bit more colorful than the Lace or Giant murex species with dark brown coloring. Max size is 4.5 inches. The Apple Murex is found all around Florida, like the Lace Murex. See a photo of this shell with egg cases at this Baily Matthews Shell Museum catalog page. Also read more about the shell on that page.
4. The Pitted Murex (Favartia cellulosa) is small, max size 1 inch, and whitish in color. See a photo.
5. Also see the Rose Murex which was collected on Sanibel Island. Scroll down to see the living mollusk in its shell. Awesome photos!
6. Another Florida murex which my local shell book does not mention is Cabrit’s Murex. This murex has a long “tail”, or canal, which has little spikes along it. Finding a shell such as this in good shape on a beach is unlikely as the waves and sand will probably break these fragile spines.
More Interesting Info on Murex Shells
The Muricidae family of shells includes the drills which are small, dense little shells, and the Rocksnail – of which I do have a specimen. See it below next to a crown conch.
Crown conch, left and Rock snail
Black murex with pink-mouth murexes and big horned helmet shell
The black murex, which I believe is called the Nigrite Murex (Hexaplex nigritus) grows to six inches high. The one in my photo is 6 inches long and about 4 inches high. Although it looks very unusual to me, it is common, and found in the Gulf of California. You won’t find this one anywhere near Florida.
For fun see a Pink-mouth murex etching at the Royal Collection Trust site. Someone was greatly inspired to draw the intricate murex.
