Dear All:

Another story about unusual shells, well maybe not unusual shells but
unusual habitats.

During a vacation on Sanibel years ago, I was collecting in shallow water
in the vicinity
of Blind Pass Bridge (it connects Sanibel and Captiva Islands) and saw a
golf ball in about two feet of water on the muddy sand.  Picking it up, I
can amazed to find it was the habitat of three I've crepidulas one on top
of the other in diminishing sizes.  If you don't know anything about the
sex life of crepidulas you should read up on it - its a little different.
I took the three shells off, cleaned them, and then glued them back in the
same position; and they are great for show and tell.  Invariable someone
will ask "How do you suppose a golf ball got there?"  Well, there is a golf
course on Captiva but its not that close.  I think some golfer just had a
bad day and was so disgusted that when he drove over the bridge, he just
picked up the ball and threw it out the window.

Betty Jean, The Tall One.

At 06:40 PM 9/1/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Andrew Vik
>Tampa, FL., USA
>[log in to unmask]
>
>Dear Paul, Marian:
>
>What great stories! And humorous, too. You have given me my best
>"non-Art Weil" laugh in ages.
>
>My most unusual specimen is an immature Macrocallista nimbosa, about 2.5
>inches long and killed by a moon snail. It looks like M. nimbosa as
>depicted by Salvador Dali. The anterior and posterior ends of the clam
>are curved up a full 1/4 inch out of the plane of the hinge. It's as if
>the shell were made of wax and had melted in the sun. One valve is
>convex and bulbous, the other is concave and flattened. There are no
>detectable cracks or chips which would indicate traumatic mantle damage.
>My only theory is that the animal suffered a mutation in it's genes of
>symmetry.
>
>Andrew