Hello.  I'm a life long collector (36 years!) but a first timer on this
site.

I have collected extensively numerous species of shells in Florida and
Texas.  I recently had an opportunity to shell in North Carolina (all
beach collecting).  I was stunned by the fact that almost every species of
gastropod that I came across was much larger than what I typically found
in Florida/Texas.  Off the top of my head these included Oliva sayana (vs
Florida/Texas), Cancellaria reticulata (vs Florida only), Sinum
perspectivum (vs Florida/Texas),Phalium granulatum (vs Florida/Texas),
Polinices duplicatus (vs Florida/Texas), and Crepidula fornicata (vs
Florida/Texas although I have found some in Delware that were almost as
large).

I realize that this could simply be an issue of physics (a lot of water
moves through those passes in North Carolina) and one opportunity to
collect in North Carolina HARDLY is a scientific study however I was
surprised that it seemed to go across so many unrelated species.  The
location in NC was very close to the northern range of many of these
species (save the Crepidula and Polinices).  Has anyone seen any studies
or seen the same thing themselves?

Thanks.

Doug Stemke

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