By Golly, Bivalves, Bivalves!

Well, this will be the last day of shells if you are lucky!! If I find out more information, I reserve the option to post more!! This first shell is a crossed barred Venus but I call it a zig zag clam. It has very sharp edges on top. Might find out some more later! It looks like there might be some more good shelling this week with the early low tides again (yippee -- it certainly makes my four mile morning walks more enjoyable except my poor back does hurt a bit from the constant stooping -- called the Sanibel stoop).

Again, this one is very common and is one of the so-called ark shells -- I think it is a cut ribbed arc. It is kind of rectangular but is not a turkey wing .

This is one of my two favorite bivalves and is called a buttercup lucine as the inside is ringed with bright, bright yellow! It shines right through to the outside and I have gotten quite a few good samples this year. They range in size up to about 4 inches.

This is a turkey wing with its peculiar shape. They can get pretty large and I think I have one that is about 5 inches at home but this one was about 4 inches.

These are another of my favorites -- the rose tellin. These are pretty small examples and I am sure at this size are often mistaken for coquinas -- the small shell found all over at the tide line. I know at home I have some relatively good size ones of 3 or 4 inches but these are about 3/4 to an inch long. They are the same color bright pink on the inside an out -- another way to tell them from the coquinas.

This is also one of my favorites and the identification guide online calls them a channel duck clam. They are translucent and very pretty and a bit fragile.

This is the most common by far around here of the clams and is Van Hynings cockle. You see these frequently alive during low tide and I have seen them 5 or 6 inches across. They are shells which have a lot of curve to them.

This is either a yellow prickly cockle or a Florida prickly cockle depending on what is on the inside!

Same as above.

These are the frequently seen coquinas. They come in many colors and some also have a very striking striping pattern as well. I particularly like the pink, orange and deep yellow ones -- I am going for color this year. They only get to about 1 inch at the largest and usually are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in length.

Aha! A yellow prickly cockle inside from above!

This is a scallop. They come in all sizes with one side having the pattern and the other side being usually white or having just a touch of pattern. They also come in grey and white (bay scallops) or almost a solid color. The calico scallop actually has stripes of orange or pink through the patterns on top.

This is a calico clam which looks like a checkerboard to me.

This is a clam sunray venus which you see quite a bit of after a storm. They range in size up to about 6 inches long and are plain white on the inside.

A shell that I have not identified but which I am sure I have is a blood ark clam which has red blood.

I also have picked up "sailor's ears" which are a plain white clam shell and found in abundance down here. I have seen something called a lion's paw and think I have one at home. I have also picked up a number of kitten's paws but didn't get any pictures. They are small clams with deep fissures that look life five fingers hence the name kitten's paw. There are also pen shells (very big, very ugly shells), razor clams (little ugly brown shells), spiny jewel boxes (really pretty spiky shells with beautiful pink insides), egg cockles (plain white cockles but haven't found too many of these), mussels (boring), oysters (again boring). I have challenged myself this year to really find out the names of all the bivalves and am hoping Santa leaves me a Florida shell book for Christmas.

I did find another fantastic website to find out the names of shells - http://shellmuseum.org/shells.cfm. They also mention "The Nautilus"which is the journal that my parents either edited or published for almost 50 years altogether. It is a professional journal for shell collectors that has been published since 1886. It is now being published by the Shell Museum on Sanibel. I was surprised to find a picture of my father as well as mention of my mother in the article that was published when the journal celebrated its 120th year anniversary.