Shells

This morning started off with a thunderstorm announcing a cold front that stretched from southern Florida to Maine.  It was somehow comforting to think that my friends in Philly and Connecticut were experiencing the same weather system as I was. It connected us, somehow.  Of course, it was several degrees warmer down here...  I took advantage of the bad weather to work some more on plans for the next couple of weeks and made reservations.  We had originally planned to return home by way of the Florida panhandle, but so many people told us we had to see the Keys that we decided to go see what they are all about.  It's nice to have the flexibility to change plans.  What a luxury!

Once the weather cleared, we went to the shell museum on Sanibel Island.  I had wanted to visit the museum because someone had told me that R. Tucker Abbott, an Academy malacologist, had played a role in its founding.  There was even mention of his role in a museum label, third line from the bottom:

And there was a photo of Abbott with Raymond Burr.  Raymond Burr, the actor, collected shells as a hobby, and donated much time, money, and other kinds of support to the museum.  I don't recall seeing this photo before, but I recognized Abbott right away (he's the man holding the shell); Raymond Burr is the man with the white hat standing next to him:

Paul is the current Collection Manager of the Malacology collection at the Academy, and he has a special expertise in all things Japanese, so the next two photos are for him (what can I say?  It was a slow news day):

 Paul once showed me, in the Academy's collection, "collector shells", or shells that collect their own shells.  There were several of these on display in the Sanibel museum, and here are a couple of them:

It is amazing that these shells are very particular about where and how they attach their shells - as the exhibit label explains, the collecting mollusks always choose dead bivalves, of a particular size, with the concave side up, and with the smaller, pointed end attached to the collector's own shell.  Isn't that amazing?  I am not sure that the two in the second photograph followed the rules.  They attached fancy crowns atop their shells, and to each other!

I have to add one rather esoteric label:

This label mentions Thomas Say, a founder of the Academy of Natural Sciences.  Mention was also made of Henry Pilsbry, another important Academy malacologist.   It never ceases to amaze me at how influential Academy scientists have been through the years. 

Here's one last photo, a rainbow of scallops, always beautiful.  There are scallops galore in Sanibel's waters:

All of the above were taken by Eileen with her iPhone.