As opposed to last year, this spring was a bit on the slow side for Gyroscala rupicola, brown banded wentletraps, on the shores of Great South Bay here in New York, on the lee side of the Fire Island, a very long barrier beach island offshore.....they were nowhere near as numerous on the beach and on average, not terribly big. i dont think we got any over 20mm. that is typical shelling, of course, never the same. But even in this slow year every visit to the beach in season netted at least 10-20+ unbroken individuals. my last visit for the year to the best beach was yesterday, and only one rupicola was found; almost no shells in the drift. except for those of one species...a newcomer to this beach. wherever there was drift there were tons of itty bitty blue mussels. and in the areas where there were hard surfaces exposed, they were covered with the tiny juvenile mussels. i dont think i ever noticed them in this habitat before. a sheller friend has just pointed out that the breaches of Fire Island caused by hurricane Sandy, ie where several new cuts through the island existed that were not present before), could be in play here. it will be interesting to see if the habitat changes and/or if rupicola abundance drops... Blue mussels are open coast species, but they are ridiculously common in other bays here. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------