Seashells

Found a Big Living Horse Conch, Exciting!

While out on the boat just the other day we were fishing the backwaters north of Mosquito Lagoon. It was low tide and my son wanted to fish in Oyster Bay because the oyster mounds would be easy to see and navigate.

As we entered the bay area a large area of very shallow water allowed us to see the sand through the clear, running water. We all noticed, what looked like, a large shell just beneath the surface. I know that the horse conch can grow to be around 2 feet long, and certain other whelks can also be quite large. So we trolled over to the edge of the sandy island and hopped into the water to investigate.

The elongated shape of the shell told me it was a horse conch, and with just a little of the orange part (the mollusk’s body) showing, I knew I had found a living horse conch! My son held the heavy shell for a moment so I could get this photo and we put it right back down onto the sand. I couldn’t measure it, but I am guessing it was around 14 inches long.

Here you can see the operculum (round hard disk) which closes the mollusk in, and his bright orange body. It’s such an amazing creature! They like sand, and this area is nothing but sand, so I’m sure he’s very happy traversing the inland waterways.

It’s not unusual to find little crown shells, lightning whelks and other pretty shells “walking” around on these sand bars. They are never living mollusks, only empty shells taken over by the hermit crabs. So, finding this big living mollusk was an exciting experience for me.

That find alone made my day, but later on we found another living horse conch on the same type of sand bar! It was about the same size as the first, and was up out of the water and encrusted with barnacles. I didn’t touch the second one, or take a picture, but I could see his orange body down in the mud. (I am always afraid I will drop my cell phone while walking through the squishy muddy, and sometimes slippery, bottom.) Plus, I already had my photos.

I have a horse conch seashell which I found empty on one of these types of islands. Perhaps empty horse conchs are too large for hermit crabs to occupy. (But they DO occupy every other type of gastropod out there!)

According to my seashell reference book, Florida’s Living Beaches, the Florida horse conch is “relatively uncommon” along the east coast. I’ve never seen one along the shore or at the beach, and I’ve only found 3 in my travels in the backwaters. They are however, “relatively common” on the southern west coast of Florida, where I imagine beautiful large and juvenile empty shells wash up on the beach. Over here where I live, it takes a bit more searching to find such a wonder.

living horse conch in natural habitat — Where the Horse Conch Lives

We left him on his sandy island, awaiting the return of the tide, and trolled off to try and catch some fish.

The Mermaid’s Toenails Turned Black

The common jingle shell (Anomia ephippium) is easy to identify, but maybe not from a distance. While walking along the shoreline, spotting a black shell could mean you’ve found just about anything. Any shell can end up turning dark gray or black in color if the conditions are right.

On my latest visit to the beach, I gathered some jingle shells, of which most were black, as you can see in my photo. One is somewhat silver, and another has bits of lighter tan, which means it still retains some of it’s original color.

But jingle shells don’t start out as black. Just like the lightning whelk below, shells turn black because of sea and sand conditions. According to a comment left on another blog, The Ocracoke Island Journal, shells that have been washed into a low oxygen area will turn black due to the presence of iron sulfide. Click the link to see photos of an impressive collection of shells that were washed up on the beach after Hurricane Irene, many of which are black in color. Scroll down the page to read the comment about black seashells.

Jingle shells can be orange, yellow, white or off white, and gray. Because of the coloring and their flat shiny surface they are sometimes called “Mermaid’s toenails”. Once you hold a jingle shell, the difference between it and other shells is readily apparent. It’s a bivalve, but there is nothing to suggest it was attached to anther piece. The shell is irregular and somewhat flattened. They are rarely over 2 inches across in size.

In fact I did collect quite a few black shells that day. I’m not really sure what that black one is in the photo below. It was too thick to be a jingle shell, but had the right shape.

cross-barred venus clam — One of the black shells I found

This piece of a whelk and the pointed bit of shell caught my eye also because of the unusual dark color. I have decided it is a Lightning Whelk. It is my best guess as the other side looks like the opening would be on the left.

I don’t think it’s rare to find a black seashell, but the shell was washed up from a place that had the right conditions to turn it into this, from it’s natural beautiful state.

Big Whelks, Oysters and Something Unexpected

Broken and faded, my big whelk shell harbors a little secret.

One of the shells in my photo below contains a creature hiding within. He was so secretive that I never knew he was there for a full day after bringing these shells home. So here’s the story…

broken whelks big seashells — Big Whelks found along Indian River

My sons and I went boating in our little Gheenoe a couple days ago. It was not windy at our house, but once we got over to the River we saw whitecaps and knew we would be dealing with wind. Windy conditions and rough water are not a big deal unless you happen to be traveling in a canoe with a motor. With three of us in the little boat it won’t go fast, and because it sits so low in the water, we tend to get wet.

Because of this we didn’t travel far. The closest big island is where we stopped, and I got out to search for seashells. The boys used the trolling motor and went just offshore to do some fishing. We had the place to ourselves.

The shell hunt began. First I walked the inner side of the island which was extremely windy. I saw a lot of horseshoe crabs – alive and dead, and of course oysters. More than once I’ve been faked out when I think I’ve discovered a big shell in the shallows only to find it’s a nasty clump of oysters!

oysters attached to tree roots — Oysters growing on tree roots along the island coastline

All the cute little shells along the shoreline were moving. Hermit crabs take up residence and steal all the good seashells for themselves. Each beautiful specimen I came across was inhabited, so I took photos and had to be happy with that. Those seashell finds I will share on my next post.

On the inland side of the island, where I was more sheltered from the wind, I found something that made my heart race. A big yellow seashell was up on shore and looked to be buried in the sand. A shell on the shore means the mollusk is not inside. Sea snails live in the water. The fact that it was not moving gave me the impression that a hermit crab was not inside. I was excited, but I should have known better. I took this photo before picking it up. Doesn’t it look like it could be a great find?

Unfortunately the underneath of that shell (which I believe is a knobbed whelk) was completely broken open, so what I saw in the sand is all there was to the shell. The mollusk had died and the broken shell did not give shelter for a crab. In other words it was useless to sea life. I took it home, along with the other broken shells I found.

But the big surprise came the day after our trip to the island, when a hermit crab appeared in the opening of one of the broken shells! Can you guess which shell, from my first photo above?

When I got home I soaked all the shells in water with a small amount of bleach to clean them off. I left them on the cement deck outside all night and then cleaned them one at a time the next day. When they were dry, I set them on the table and that is when my son noticed a big hermit crab emerging from the one below!

Yup, a good size hermit crab is inside the top of this broken, faded and worn Channeled whelk shell. The inner top of this shell must be hollow and he had scrunched himself into that area. We could see a bit of his legs through that top broken piece.

We did the only thing we could do to help the crab survive. We drove over to the River and tossed the shell back into the sea water.

You can see pictures of the Channeled Whelk as it is before it becomes as destroyed as mine is on the “i love shelling” site, where Pam (the blog owner) is fortunate to live and travel to great shelling places. She writes from the fabulous Gulf Coast, Sanibel area, where gorgeous seashells are everywhere.

I have to work hard just to find these broken ones! But it’s fun, and who knows, one day I may find something spectacular out there.