June Meeting

Good morning all. Due to an unexpected cancellation of this month’s speaker, and the lateness of the cancellation, I was not able to find a speaker for this month. I have put together a short program titled “Oh, It’s only sand”, mainly for the new shell pile attendees. I have a lot of microscopic shells from the sand from the apertures of the shells found at Phipp’s Park. I will not take too long, maybe twenty to twenty five minutes, and there will be plenty of time to do a show and tell. Sorry for doing too many programs, but hopefully we will have real meetings again. If we have a real meeting in June, I will have a good program for that. 

 Here is a blurb,This month’s program will be presented by Carole Marshall. The title is “Oh, It’s only sand”. This program will explore the sand that came out of the recent dredge piles at Phipp’s Park. The micro shells found in that sand and how you can look for some of these tiny treasures. Most of us, consider the sand a nuisance, but there are a myriad of tiny treasures if we only look.
In addition, feel free to show some of your treasures, as we will have a show and tell. Your chance to tell something of a special shell or even a thrift store find.  The meeting is open to everyone, so feel free to join our ZOOM meeting.
  Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/832893 40441?pwd=Y05VNXNESEZVQ3o5 S2NEZk8xaGdBQT09  Meeting ID: 832 8934 0441 Passcode: 429109 One tap mobile +19292056099,,83289340441#,,,,*429109# US (New York) +13017158592,,83289340441#,,,,*429109# US (Washington DC) Dial by your location +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdb1KYuKAa

May 2021 Meeting

Good morning all. Due to an unexpected cancellation of this month’s speaker, and the lateness of the cancellation, I was not able to find a speaker for this month. I have put together a short program titled “Oh, It’s only sand”, mainly for the new shell pile attendees. I have a lot of microscopic shells from the sand from the apertures of the shells found at Phipp’s Park. I will not take too long, maybe twenty to twenty five minutes, and there will be plenty of time to do a show and tell. Sorry for doing too many programs, but hopefully we will have real meetings again. If we have a real meeting in June, I will have a good program for that. 

 Here is a blurb,This month’s program will be presented by Carole Marshall. The title is “Oh, It’s only sand”. This program will explore the sand that came out of the recent dredge piles at Phipp’s Park. The micro shells found in that sand and how you can look for some of these tiny treasures. Most of us, consider the sand a nuisance, but there are a myriad of tiny treasures if we only look.


In addition, feel free to show some of your treasures, as we will have a show and tell. Your chance to tell something of a special shell or even a thrift store find.  The meeting is open to everyone, so feel free to join our ZOOM meeting.


  Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/832893 40441?pwd=Y05VNXNESEZVQ3o5 S2NEZk8xaGdBQT09  Meeting ID: 832 8934 0441 Passcode: 429109 One tap mobile +19292056099,,83289340441#,,,,*429109# US (New York) +13017158592,,83289340441#,,,,*429109# US (Washington DC) Dial by your location +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdb1KYuKAa

April Meeting

Our speaker will be Jessica Pate who has an undergraduate degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and a graduate degree from Florida Atlantic University.  She has studied sea turtles in Florida, Central America, and West Africa.  She has also taught marine biology on traditionally rigged schooners and has crossed the Atlantic Ocean by sail.  In 2016, Jessica started the Florida Manta Project to study the biology and ecology of manta rays in South Florida and has discovered a potential rare nursery habitat.
Jessica will be talking about manta ray biology and global manta ray conservation, as well what discoveries that she has made about Florida’s manta rays.  You will also find out how to become a citizen scientist and contribute to important manta ray research!

Zoom Meeting on Wednesday, January 13.

The Speaker will be Robert Myers. Here is the program:

Into the Heart of Diversiy, Ambon to West Papua A bit over a year ago we went on our last major dive trip, to Ambon and across the Banda Sea to West Papua. To you molluscophiles, Ambon is where all species bearing the name “amboinensis” come from, the Maluku Island where those named “molluccensis” come from, the Banda Islands where those named “bandanensis” come from. To naturalists, these are the islands just to the east of Wallace’s LIne, where the flora and fauna transitions from Asian to Australian lineages. While this was not a shelling trip (collecting is forbidden in preserves) and we saw few mollusks other than those without shells, it was a wonderful glimpse of the environment they inhabit.  Our first 5 nights were at Spice Island Divers in Ambon, on the shore of a bay that slopes steeply down to 1,000 m. The shallows offer a variety of  coastal coral community and soft sediment muck dive sites. The steep slopes are subject to seasonal upwelling and have a number of somewhat deeper-dwelling species that encroach into safe diving depths. The rest of the trip was on the Damai Dua, a luxurious fanisi-style live-aboard. Our 12-day excursion began with daily stops through a chain of isolated coral pinnacles and active volcanos including the historic island and city of Banda Niera. From there we travelled to the eastern end of Ceram, the largest of the Maluku Islands, then on to Misool, the largest of the Raja Ampat Islands. These isands sit on the West Papuan shelf and are home to the world’s most diverse coral reefs. Of special interest to us are species of carpet and epaulet (“walking”) sharks, found only on the Papuan-Australian continetal shelf. We finished the trip with a dive on a pinncale reef in the Fam Island group, a site we first dived 15 years earlier, during our first digital photo trip.

ZOOM meeting, Wednesday, Oct. 14th.

Wednesday October 14, 2020 7 P.M.

Broward Shell Club ZOOM meeting. Carole Marshall will be giving a program,  Cephalopods on Coins, Paper Money and Exonumia. I will have live footage of Octopuses in motion. Great video by Brenda Hill, who has graciously loaned her video to me. Many stories of why these cephalopods came to be on coins and exonumia, including the Forest Octopus of the Cascades and the Kraken of the Game of Thrones.  Learn about the Octopus who predicted soccer games and some million year old ammonites.  Tune in on Wednesday at 7 P.M. Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/828192 85812?pwd=Y1A3bVVoallOQzU4N UwxaUpnNFNldz09 Meeting ID: 828 1928 5812 Passcode: 844342 Mobile Phone call (if you need to connect by phone only): +13017158592,,82819285812#,,,,,,0#,,844342# US (Germantown) +13126266799,,82819285812#,,,,,,0#,,844342# US (Chicago) Dial by your location: +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

ZOOM Programs for September

ZOOM Programs for September

September has always been an iffy month for a Shell Club meeting. Usually it is hurricanes, this year it is COVID.  I try to schedule our ever popular show and tell for September and we will try to do that in our ZOOM meeting for this September.  So dust off an old shelling story or two and prepare to share it with the group.

IF, for some reason, we do not have enough show and tell stories, I have prepared a short program on Coins and Cephalopods. Most of you know I collect shells on coins, paper money and exonumia.  Since 1999, they have become very important to me. I have money with mollusk motifs from about 145 different countries. For this program, I will only focus on the money with an Octopus, Squid, Nautilus or Cuttlefish.

I hope you get to tune in and we get to see your smiling faces again. Perhaps we can have another real meeting soon.

Carole Marshall

February Meeting

Title: Ecological interactions between marine macrophytes and small invertebrate epifauna in tropical shallow coastal systems

Synopsis: Marine macrophytes form biogenic habitats that maintain the biodiversity of marine coastal systems, especially for small invertebrate epifauna that maintain essential ecosystem functions. These macrophyte-invertebrate interactions are prevalent in shallow coastal systems, including subtidal seagrass beds and intertidal sandy beaches. These shallow coastal systems are also challenged with periodic influxes of pelagic Sargassum, a region-wide issue affecting much of the Caribbean, including South Florida, since 2011. Though these Sargassum influxes occur periodically, we know very little about how these influxes affect the local macrophyte and invertebrate epifaunal communities. This upcoming meeting will provide an update on research related to macrophyte-invertebrate interactions in shallow coastal systems. Current findings of ongoing research and further opportunities of investigation, particularly with effects of Sargassum influxes, will be discussed. 

Biography: Lowell Andrew Iporac is a Ph.D Candidate at Florida International University’s (FIU) Biology Doctoral Program. Lowell obtained his B.A. in Biology from California State University, San Bernardino, where he completed four different undergraduate projects. Among those four research projects, it was an internship at Shannon Point Marine Center that sparked his interest in marine biology. Upon moving to FIU, he joined the Marine Macroalgae Research Lab (MMRL) with Dr. Ligia Collado-Vides in 2016. When not doing his research, Lowell likes snorkeling, diving, hiking, and playing with his Nintendo Switch. 

January Meeting

Our Program for this January is our own Tom Ball. Tom will be giving us a program on Musical Shells. Tom is a musician himself, playing piano, singing opera and appearing in at least two Florida Grand Opera productions a year. He has been in Barbershop Quartets, sings in Church Choirs and in many other choral groups. Tom also composes scores and writes music. 

It is no surprise then that Tom collects shells with musical connotations. Shells named for an instrument, a composer, a musician, a musical opera, score or anything musical. You will be surprised at all the shells he has encountered.

Tom gave us a similar program about 5 years ago but since we have so many new members, I thought it would be enjoyable for our new members and since he has much new material he has added, even those who have seen it once will enjoy seeing it again. 

November 2019 program

Dr. Tim Collins is a Professor and the Graduate Program Director in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University. Dr. Collins received his B.S. degree from the University of Maryland, and his Ph.D. from Yale University. Dr. Collins is an evolutionary biologist working primarily on molluscs, and is particularly interested in applying his skills to solve practical problems.

I met Dr. Collins at the screening of the Changing Seas episode “Cryptic Critters” from Season 10,  with Dr. Rüdiger Bieler and his wife Dr. Petra Sierwald. Tim ran the DNA work on the new wormsnail from the Florida Keys, which turned out to be the new species, Thylacodes vandyensis Bieler, Rawlings & Collins, 2017.

Dr. Collins is presently working on the invasive species of flatworm, Platydemus manokwari De Beauchamp, 1963, and tonight he will tell us about his studies with this flatworm and why it is dangerous to our local species.

The non-native terrestrial New Guinea Flatworm (NGF, Platydemus manokwari) was discovered in Florida in 2015. In other parts of the world where it has been introduced, it has been considered the cause of extinction and/or dramatic decline of native species, particularly land snails, and for this reason is considered one of the World’s 100 worst invasive species. We have observed large-scale predation events on native Florida tree snails by Platydemus sp. for example, on our iconic native tree snails, Liguus and Orthalicus in the Castellow Hammock Preserve (see photos). In my talk I will discuss the possible effects of NGF on both native and non-native snails in Florida, as well as possible ways to limit the spread and effects of this new invasive species.

Please come and welcome Dr. Tim Collins to his first program for our club. Don’t forget to bring a snack if you have not done so this year.