Colorful Moonsnail

The colorful moonsnail (Naticarius canrena), are gastropods. They are uncommon at the beaches that I have been to (that is why I only have one).
Moonsnails prey on  buried bivalves. Their foot is about ten times the size of their shell and is light colored with brown streaks running down it.

Rubber Snakes to Silver Spoons (Another Trip to Lido)

Common Sand Toys

Yesterday we were coming back from a volunteer interview, and we decided to take a trip to the beach. We have not been to the beach recently because of the winter tourists, and because it was so cold the last month. I have not been cleaning up the beach for a while and I have been wondering what could have happened to the beach during our absence. It was a mess! Trash was everywhere! So I began to clean up. I started putting trash in a soda cup that I have been drinking out of only a few minutes earlier.

Strings and Other Long Stretchy Things

Stranger Things to Find on Lido Beach

 But that soon overflowed. Then I found a green bucket which was abandoned, so I started using that. But that too started to fill up quicker than I expected. Then I found a yellow bucket without a handle, and a second bucket made everything much easier because I could separate the keep from the trash. I keep the things that I can either reuse or make something awesome out of. Some of the normal keep things I found were pony tails, plastic sand toys, and a neat ball that I'm sure my sisters will enjoy playing with. The weirder things I found were a feathery flower, two silver spoons, and a rubber snake.
Speaking of rubber snakes, there once was a dolphin who ate a rubber snake that someone discarded. It is really important that trash and other things like toys, do not get left on the beach. (If any of these are yours, and you are near Lido beach, I can give it back to you.)

Ray or Stingray or Skate

Clearnosed skate at the Mote Marine Laboratory

 Sometimes, it is difficult to tell the difference between stingrays, skates and rays. There are about 500 species of rays, stingrays, and skates. Skates are very easy to tell apart from the stingrays and rays. They never have barbs, most have spines on their back and tail, and their tails are much thicker than either the rays or stingrays.



 

Atlantic stingray at the Florida Aquarium

Stingrays and different then rays for many reasons. Stingrays usually are on the sea floor, their barb is farther away from their body, they usually have rounder fins, and stingrays will cover themselves with sand to hide from predators.

Cownose ray at the Mote Marine Laboratory

Rays swim around in the water, their spines are at the base of their tail (accept the devil rays and manta rays who have no spines), they have more "wing-like" fins then stingrays, and their species are easier to tell apart. Like the manta rays, the cownose rays, the spotted eagle rays, and the bat ray. Once you know the differences between stingrays and rays, it will become very easy to tell them apart.

 



Blue Eyed Hermit Crab

The blue eyed hermit crab (Paguristes sericeus) is easily recognisable by its bright blue eyes and its reddish-orangish eye stalks. Hermit crabs are not really crabs, however they are crustaceans. I have been studying blue eyed hermit crabs recently and I have found out a few things. They are always hungry and they are determined. The hermit crab in the picture has lots of animals living on its shell. It has a slipper snail, barnacles, and a few worms all living on its shell. Hermit crabs also have the ability to grow legs back if they fall or break off. This is called regeneration.

Round-Rib and Zigzag Scallops

 I am putting both the round-rib and the zigzag scallops in the same post because they both look similar. The round-rib scallop (Euvola raveneli) is in the left of the photos and it has no zigzag going through the shell like the zigzag scallop (Euvola ziczac) which is on the right of the pictures. They are hard to find and I have only found one of each. The flat shell is the upper shell and the lower shell is round, not flat.

Spiny Jewel Box Shells

Spiny jewel box shells.

 These are spiny jewel box shells, or Arcinella cornuta. they are bivalves. Bivalves are invertebrates with two shells. You can find their shells separate or together like the kitten paw shells. I have even found a fossilised one. My grandma calls them lion paw shells (to go with the kitten paws).

Fossilised spiny jewel box shell.

Big and small spiny jewel box shells.

Spiny jewel box shell connected.

Kitten Paws

A variety of kitten paws.

 These are kitten paw shells, scientifically know as Plicatula gibbosa. They are common on Florida's gulf beaches. You can find them attached to other shells, in their clam form with nothing on the inside, or you can find just one without other shells or the other side (which is how you usually find them). They are usually small but you can also find them pretty big like the one in the center of the first picture.




A small kitten paw                    And a big kitten paw.

A kitten paw with both shells attached.