Identify Your Shelling Finds

Here is a small sample of the 400 species of shells found on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, where cones, volutes, bivalves and olives decorate the shores.

Alphabet cone
Conus spurius
Color: cream to white with rows of orange to light brown spots.

Apple murex
Chicoreus pomum
A thick, heavy shell with a rough tan-to-brown surface.

Angel wing
Cyrtopleura costata
After storms, loose valves wash ashore on Gulf beaches.

Atlantic calico scallop
Argopecten gibbus
Upper valve is lighter in color than lower and has orange, pink or brown markings.

Common nutmeg
Cancellaria reticulate
Albinos are not uncommon.

Atlantic giant cockle
Dinocardium robustum
Color: pale tan to yellowish-brown with irregular mottling.

Florida fighting conch
Strombus alatus
Color: extremely variable – orange, reddish-brown to dark mahogany.

Common jingle shell
Anomia simplex
Colors: white, yellow, orange, silver-grey or blackish.

Junonia
Scaphella junonia
Once-in-a-lifetime find.

Horse conch
Triplofusus giganteus
Florida State Shell; “knobless wonder" found in Southwest Florida waters.

Lettered olive
Oliva sayana
Light tan to light grey with darker brown, tent-like markings.

Lion’s paw
Lyropecten nodosus
Rare deep-water species; halves wash up on the beach after storms.

Lightning whelk
Busycon sinistrum
Very common on mud flats and bays.

True tulip
Fasciolaria tulipa
Found in seagrass bottoms and on sand flats.

Shark eye
Neverita duplicata
Color: greyish to nearly white.

Sunray venus
Macrocallista nimbosa
Found on sandy bottoms.