Some shells species are found on Sanibel Island and in New York City!
In mid-December 2017, I had a 16-day trip to Sanibel Island, in Lee County, Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. It was gorgeous, and I made a lot of observations there. I also met up for three days with two other citizen scientist malacologists, although neither of them is on iNaturalist.
My husband and I came back home to two or three mild days of winter weather in NYC. Then suddenly a prolonged and extreme frigid weather spell hit New York City and the whole of the northeast and central part of the country. It was hard to get through -- even indoors with steam heat it was cold.
But that eased up recently, and I was able to get back to Randall's Island, which is currently my favorite local iNat destination.
I am not a birder, but I managed to see Red-breasted Mergansers for the first time on Sanibel, and then saw some a couple days ago on Randall's!
As usual, I am shelling a lot on both islands, but I try to record as many other species of organisms as I reasonably can.
You would not think that Sanibel and Randall's have much in common at all, but surprisingly, seven marine mollusk species which are present on Sanibel are also present on Randall's! They are: the Hard Clam, the Atlantic Bay Scallop, the Eastern Oyster, the Dwarf Surf Clam, the Angel Wing (I found one fragment of a valve on Randalll's), the Eastern Melampus, and the Shark Eye.
One really interesting thing about the beaches on Randall's Island is that you can find valves of the Atlantic Rangia there, an estuarine species. But that is another story all by itself!
I love iNaturalist!
Observations
Photos / Sounds
What
Southern Flatcoil (Polygyra cereolus)Observer
susanhewittDescription
The hurricane pushed a lot of plant debris very high up on the beach.
Mixed in with all that plant debris there were a lot of land snail shells. This species was by far the most common.
Photos / Sounds
What
Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens)Observer
susanhewittDescription
Early morning at the Lighthouse. The white morph of the Reddish Egret, and behind that a Snowy Egret, and behind that, a human who is an avid and very discerning shell collector.
Photos / Sounds
What
Florida Fighting Conch (Strombus alatus)Observer
susanhewittDescription
This type of sand bar, which is only exposed during a significantly large minus tide, is a classic habitat for adult Florida Fighting Conchs.
Photos / Sounds
What
Amber Glassy Bubble (Haminoea succinea)Observer
susanhewittDescription
In drift lines beyond the fishing pier.
Extremely light and fragile.
Photos / Sounds
What
Family LingulidaeObserver
susanhewittDescription
Wow, a brachiopod. Steve Rosenthal found it, washed up, attached to a shell
Photos / Sounds
What
Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica)Observer
susanhewittDescription
A nice live oyster on a rock. I have seen this one and photographed it before.
I think has grown since the first time I saw it.
Photos / Sounds
What
Northern Dwarf-Tellin (Ameritella agilis)Observer
susanhewittDescription
So many of these present on this beach today! I could have collected 100 if I had wanted to. This is the largest number I have ever seen here.
The big ones are about 10 mm in length. They seem mostly to be adults with a few juveniles as well, but the juveniles of this species can be so very small that they are easy to overlook.
I don't know if the tellins had been killed by the cold and ice, or whether many of them were still alive and had simply been washed up by the storm.
Photos / Sounds
What
Soft-shelled Clam (Mya arenaria)Observer
susanhewittDescription
These are not paired valves, just two valves that happen to be about the same size.
And at this location I don't seem to find valves much bigger than this.
Photos / Sounds
What
Solitary Glassy-Bubble (Haminella solitaria)Observer
susanhewittDescription
When these shells are fresh they are transparent, but they turn opaque after a while.
The one on the right still has some perisotracum on it.
Photos / Sounds
What
Atlantic Macoma (Macoma petalum)Observer
susanhewittDescription
A rather nice juvenile shell of the species.
Comments
Talk about different worlds! I don't think I've seen Ameritella in CT. I take it they like protected waters?
Yes, the little tellins like back-bay conditions, or in this case, an inlet of an estuary.
Is there habitat like that somewhere near New Haven?
Plenty, just not ones my fam usually checks out over the holidays! If I'm back under warmer conditions this year I might try and look. Actually Bluff Point out by New London kind of meets the description, but I don't think I've ever seen them there.
You still need to come to St. Joe bay to see the Fargo Worm Snails!
@kueda -- I find that at Randall's Island it varies a lot as to whether you can find any of the little tellins or not. I did look at Bluff Point on the map, and that area looks promising for this kind of bivalve. If you can find bubble snails you can almost certainly find the tellins.
Where I find these little tellins on Randall's is a little sandy beach that is silty lower down on a minus tide. Quite a lot of different species of shells wash up there sometimes. so far I have 25 marine mollusk species from Randall's.
@rogerbirkhead -- I would love to see St. Joe's Bay, but we don't rent a car when we are on Sanibel, so we don't get around much at all. However, if at some point we stop going to Nevis in the spring, I am definitely looking for one or two nice places to stay other than Sanibel, places that are in the US, warm, on a good stretch of coast, and have one or more attractive old-fashioned places to stay with a kitchenette, and within walking distance of some nice shelling/sea life exploring.
I would be delighted to hear from anyone who has suggestions for places like that. :)
I deleted the Spam post.
Susan,
Since this popped up, I will add St. George Island, FL to my list of recommendations for you. Last year we stayed at a nice "no frills" house (https://www.heronnow.com/) on the island. It was on the bay side but an easy walk over to the ocean side, plus it was a very short drive to the great state park (Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park) as well. The owner was excited to have biologists staying there and had a good selection of field guides in the rental home library. Good places to eat on the island as well as in nearby Apalachicola.
Cheers!
Roger
Ah that sounds really lovely -- just our cup of tea! Is it possible to get public transportation over to the State Park?
Do you fly into Tallahassee?
We just drive down. Tallahassee would be the closest airport. There isn't any public transportation that I am aware of. It is a reasonable bike ride and there are plenty of bike rentals (also kayak).
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