ShellSanibel
Read the beach.
Junonia
Scaphella junonia
rare · 3–5 in (8–13 cm)
How to tell it
Cream, elongated, covered in bold squared chocolate-brown spots in orderly spiral rows. Unmistakable, which is part of why it is famous.
What it gets confused with
Nothing else here is spotted like this.
Where it turns up
It lives in deep water offshore and only reaches the beach when a storm brings it in. People have shelled here for decades without finding one.
Alive or empty
Almost always found empty, having travelled a long way to get here.
Worth knowing
The prize, and the reason to be straight with you: this is not a realistic goal for a morning. It is a thing that happens to somebody a few times a year. Walk for what is actually there and let the junonia be a surprise.
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.