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Monday, October 5 · Sanibel & Captiva

Shell guide

Fourteen species you can genuinely expect to meet on these beaches, ordered by how often you will actually meet them — plus one you almost certainly will not, and which everybody asks about anyway.

Scientific names follow the World Register of Marine Species and are checked against it automatically. Where a name has changed, the one printed in older field guides is given too.

• Coquina

  Donax variabilis

  Tiny wedge-shaped bivalves in every colour combination the Gulf can manage — pink, yellow, blue-grey, striped, rayed.

  abundant

  0.3–1 in (1–2.5 cm)

• Cross-barred venus

  Chione elevata formerly Chione cancellata

  A solid little clam with a strong grid — raised radial ribs crossed by sharp concentric ridges, giving a latticed sur…

  abundant

  0.8–1.5 in (2–4 cm)

• Calico scallop

  Argopecten gibbus

  The classic fan with about twenty ribs and mottled calico patterning — rose, maroon, cream.

  common

  1–2.5 in (3–6 cm)

• Common jingle shell

  Anomia simplex

  Thin, translucent, slightly warped discs in pale gold, silver-grey or apricot.

  common

  1–2 in (2.5–5 cm)

• Florida cerith

  Cerithium atratum

  A small, sharply pointed spire with beaded spiral rows.

  common

  0.5–1.5 in (1–4 cm)

• Florida fighting conch

  Strombus alatus name disputed

  Heavy for its size, squat, with a flared lip and a row of blunt shoulder knobs.

  common

  2–4 in (5–10 cm)

• Kitten’s paw

  Plicatula gibbosa

  Small, thick, triangular, with a handful of heavy raised folds spreading from the hinge like toes.

  common

  0.5–1.2 in (1.5–3 cm)

• Lettered olive

  Oliva sayana

  Glossy, cylindrical, almost polished-looking even fresh off the beach, with fine zigzag markings that suggest handwri…

  common

  1.5–3 in (4–7 cm)

• Lightning whelk

  Sinistrofulgur sinistrum formerly Busycon contrarium, Busycon sinistrum

  The one that opens on the left.

  common

  4–12 in (10–30 cm); occasionally larger

• Alphabet cone

  Conus spurius

  A clean conical shell, white with orange-brown blocks and dashes arranged in spiral rows that genuinely do look like…

  fairly common

  2–3 in (5–8 cm)

• Apple murex

  Phyllonotus pomum

  Knobbly and rugged, with three heavy flanged varices running down the body and a rough, frilled texture.

  fairly common

  2–4 in (5–10 cm)

• Banded tulip

  Cinctura hunteria formerly Fasciolaria hunteria

  Smooth and spindle-shaped, cream to grey with widely spaced fine dark spiral lines, like ruled pencil.

  fairly common

  2–4 in (5–10 cm)

• Keyhole sand dollar

  Mellita quinquiesperforata

  Flat, round, with a five-petalled flower on top and five elongated slots — the keyholes — cut clean through the test.

  fairly common

  2–4 in (5–10 cm)

• True tulip

  Fasciolaria tulipa

  Larger and more strongly coloured than the banded tulip — orange, brick and grey mottling with irregular dark spiral…

  occasional

  3–6 in (8–15 cm)

• Junonia

  Scaphella junonia

  Cream, elongated, covered in bold squared chocolate-brown spots in orderly spiral rows.

  rare

  3–5 in (8–13 cm)