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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs To leave this list, click on the following web link: http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1 Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and click leave the list. ----------------------------------------------------------------------