We really do have an awesome library!

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On Dec 29, 2010, at 8:21 AM, Doug Stemke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Fellow CONCH-Lers
>   I was asked about a trip report to Florida this Christmas (I would
> have
> sent one sooner but my computer hard-drive crashed).  Let’s
> just start with
> the good news, it was SPECTACULAR.  We went to Sanibel for 5 days
> and one
> day on Honeymoon/Caladesi Island.  We had wonderfully low tides
> thanks to
> the full moon (we had a lunar eclipse too which must mean the sun
> and moon
> were cooperating especially well together).
>
>     First I have to thank the city and visitors to Sanibel.  If you
> are a
> stranded Strombus (or other unfortunate critter) there are a host of
> people
> who want to put you back in the water, maybe even to the point of
> being
> over-zealous.  The colony of Pleuroploca gigantea that was near our
> hotel
> that we saw three years ago actually seemed to have gotten larger,
> certainly
> it had a lot more +10 inch specimens.
>
>     The first impressions of Sanibel this year were the huge number of
> echinoderms on the beach, urchins, ‘sea beans’,
> starfish, and brittle stars.
> Lots of Pens too. On the central Sanibel beaches I found (mostly left)
> plenty of the ‘regulars’-numerous Fasciolaria lilium
> hunteria (both alive
> and cleaned), large live Pleuroploca gigantea and fewer dead small
> ones,
> lots of Oliva sayana, few Murex this year, and of course lots of
> Busycon,
> both species alive and cleaned.  In the Lightning Welks the largest
> live one
> I saw was maybe an 12 inch specimen, I did bring back a empty gem
> that was
> maybe 9 inches (and a larger less-than perfect specimen).  Lots of
> Ficus
> communis, empty and with dead or living animal and a few Vericularia
> at
> Blind pass.  I found a few cones (C. spurious (5, but only 1 good)
> and C.
> floridanus), but my wife did better than I with two spectacular
> ones. I also
> did find a small fragment of a Junonia.  A women I had met at Blind
> pass
> found 1 and ¾ Junonia over just two days! I found a few Cancellaria
> reticulate a couple of fragments of Phalium granulatium both on
> Sanibel and
> Cayo Casta and a nice little Lion’s Paw also on Cayo Casta.
>     A rather magical event.  I was up early ‘before the crowdsâ
> €™ at the
> Pleuroploca gigantea colony taking photos of the animals. I was
> returning to
> the hotel and met my wife and daughter going out to the beach.  The
> beach
> was now covered with active shellers looking for prizes so I really
> didn’t
> think I’d find much in the way of non-living shells. At about
> the same time
> I met a women with her kids who had fairly recently lost her
> husband. She
> was a sweet woman and we talked a bit about her husband, how she
> missed him
> and how this trip was part of her healing process.  We parted after
> which I
> saw the top of a Pleuroploca gigantean buried in the sand.  I
> assumed it was
> also alive but was amazed when I turned it over to find it was
> actually an
> empty 11 inch specimen with some worm damage.  My first ever dead
> Horse
> Conch over 6 inches! I was admiring my prize when I thought about
> the woman.
> After thinking about it figured I really should give the Horse Conch
> to her
> the shell.  As I approached her I saw that her son had also found
> one, this
> one an absolute gem and even a touch larger than the one I had
> found! And
> this on a crowded beach! Sanibel magic at it’s best.
>      On Honeymoon Island the find was a 7 inch half eaten large red
> Fasciolaria tulipa (there were live ones too). We took the boat to
> Caladesi
> Island which was truly lovely. Certainly the loveliest Strombus
> alatus I've
> ever seen (hundreds of them), from gorgeous dark chestnut specimens
> through
> to a spinless wonder.  My daughter insisted that we throw back all the
> living specimens we came across so I literally threw back several
> hundred
> (my poor arm).  I found both C. spurus and C. floridanus and what I
> think is
> a fossil C. jaspideus, and thousands and thousands of Turbo castanea
> including one golden one. My daughter kept helping herself to the
> the  Turbo
> castaneas until I thought my back would break!  A few baby Pleuroploca
> gigantean and the regular Busycon and Olives. It was also nice  to
> find a
> few whole pairs of empty Macrocallista maculate (one of my favorite
> Bivalves
> to find) and large M. nimbosa. We also threw back maybe a dozen living
> members of each of these species.
>    Outside of the shelling as always it was great to see the
> Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum and bumping into Jose was wonderful.
> Sounds
> like the museum will have a fantastic new display of world records
> that I,
> unfortunately, missed. Also a chance to meet Larry Strange at his
> shop and
> talk shells was a fantastic plus.  Honeymoon island has a nice
> display of
> local shells including a 24 inch Horse Conch.  And just to add my
> 2:00 am
> stomp around Bowman's Beach (Sanibel) scared up a Bobcat! Quite a
> plus. A
> very enjoyable trip!
>
> Doug
>
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