ShellSanibel
Read the beach.
Alphabet cone
Conus spurius
fairly common · 2–3 in (5–8 cm)
How to tell it
A clean conical shell, white with orange-brown blocks and dashes arranged in spiral rows that genuinely do look like printed characters.
What it gets confused with
No other local cone carries the blocky lettering.
Where it turns up
Gulf beaches, often in the wash rather than the wrack.
Alive or empty
Cone snails are venomous hunters. The Florida species are not considered dangerous to people the way some Indo-Pacific cones are, but do not handle a live one — and a live one will be sealed and heavy.
Taking live shells is prohibited in Lee County
That includes anything with the animal still in it, and sand dollars, sea stars and urchins whether or not they look alive. If it moves, if it closes, if it is anchored to the sand — put it back where you found it, the right way up.
A shell with an animal in it is not a souvenir that has been left out. It is the animal’s house, and the beach is not producing spares.