Just released, hot off the press. You can purchase your copy of this beautiful book with full page color photograps direct from the publishers, Conch Republic Books. The price for Individual books is 39.95 plus postage about $2.85 each and Florida sales tax from your county. You can email dsargent10@comcast.net or phone to order 352-516-7821. My copy has been ordered and will review in the near future.
Sanibel will be celebrating its 75th annual Shell Show this coming March and we will be there to help them celebrate. On Saturday, March 3rd the club will have its annual field trip to that show. We will leave at 7:30 AM from the Coral Ridge Mall parking lot (under the AMC Theater sign located at the corner of Federal Highway and Oakland Park Blvd.) and return about 9:30 PM, so it will be a day-long affair. We will see the show, have some lunch, stop at a shell shop or two and possibly get in some shelling if time allows. The cost will be $30 per person which includes the rental fees/taxes, gas and such. The van holds a maximum of 12, but if we have enough interest we will rent an additional van….BUT I will then need someone to designate as a driver. I will be driving the first van (as usual). Please see me at the February meetings or call/email me at 954-296-5633 / sedlaki1@comcast.net. Checks are to be made out to The Broward Shell Club, but at least some cash payments would be nice to use for the fuel, etc. All I ask is that if you commit to go, then PLEASE do so. If there is a remote possibility that you might not be able to go then please do not sign up as any cancellations will end up having to be paid for by the club. It REALLY is a fun day and I encourage all of you new members to take advantage of this great day.
Patricia Whitaker is the mother of shell club members Suzanne Albert and grandmother of Katherine Albert. Please click on artwork to enlarge.
The cowries have always been a collectors favorite. No other family of shells comes close in popularity. It is no wonder since they are shiny, colorful, elegantly shaped, and come in a myriad variety of colors and patterns. The French call them by the beautiful name, porcellaines. The cowries are true works of art.
The cypraea are dwellers of the tropical seas (with some exception) with the largest concentration and variety of species in the Philippine islands. Most are nocturnal and are reef dwellers. Their mantle envelops the shell thus preserving the glossy surface. The color pattern varies and may be mottled, blotched, spotted, freckled, banded, striped, ringed, or various combinations or even solid. In size they range from several millimeters to our own giant Cypraea cervus that can grow up to six inches.
Twenty-four different specie of the smaller sized cypraea are included as our February Shell of the Month. Although this selection is intended as an introduction of the collecting of cowries, the is plenty here to interest even the more advanced collector such as the giant Cypraea spurca from Turkey and the unusual blue Cypraea robertsi from Ecuador. How many of our members posses a shell collected in Turkey? Anyone? The rarest shell in this collection is the very difficult to obtain Cypraea vrendenburgi that comes only from Indonesia.
All the shells come with complete data. They are donated by shell club member Richard Kent
Cypraea acicularis, Gmelin 1791, Brasil
Cypraea asellus, Linne 1758, Philippines
Cypraea arabicula, Lamarck 1810, Panama
Cypraea bovinii, Kiener 1843, Indonesia
Cypraea chinesis, Gmelin 1791, Philippines
Cypraea diluculum, Reeve 1845, Zanzibar
Cypraea erosa, Linne 1758, Micronesia
Cypraea gracilus, Gaskoin 1849, Okinawa
Cypraea helovla argella, Melvill 1889, Tanzania
Cypraea isabella, Linne 1758, New Caledonia
Cypraea kieneri depriesteri, Schilder 1933 Solomon Islands
Cypraea labrolineata, Gaskoin 1849, Indonesia
Cypraea listeri, Gray 1824, Australia
Cypraea lutea, Gmelin 1791, Philippines
Cypraea nebrites, Melville 1888, UAE
Cypraea ocellata, Linne 1758, India
Cypraea poraria, Linne 1758, Viet-Nam
Cypraea quadrimaculata, Gray 1824, Philippines
Cypraea robertsi, Hidalgo 1906, Ecuador
Cypraea saulae, Gaskoin 1843, Philippines
Cypraea spurca, Linne 1758, Turkey
Cypraea teres, Gmelin 1791, Hawaii
Cypraea vrenderburgi, Schilder 1927, Indonesia
Cypraea zonaria, Gmelin 1791, Senegal
At this month’s meeting, Wednesday, February 8, the Broward Shell club will be having a program given by Paul Callomon. Paul Callomon is Collections Manager in the Department of Malacology at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. He is the author of two books and several papers focusing on the mollusks of Japan, where he lived for many years. His talk recalls collecting trips in various areas of the country, and especially the Amami Islands. This island group is not well known to travelers from outside Japan. Despite a long history of human settlement it still boasts some of the best surviving coral habitats in the northwestern Pacific region and a very rich molluscan fauna.
“Shell Class” at the Museum of Discovery and Science, Ft. Lauderdale 1/14/12
by Richard Sedlak
The Broward Shell Club made one of its first forays into a cooperative association with the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale. A “Shell Class” took place on Saturday, January 14th from Noon to 4 PM and was presided over by club members Richard Sedlak and Jonathan Galka. The first class was held at 12:30 and the majority of participants were youngsters with a few parents. Working in tandem, Richard and Jonathan first did a general overview discussing shells. They brought a large array of seashells to display and the children were really fascinated with them. They described the various shell families, giving more detailed information, and the children asked quite a few questions afterward. The second class was considerably smaller, and primarily adults, but there was just as much enthusiasm from the adult audience as from the youngsters.
The Museum of Discovery and Science facility is perfect for giving programs! They have computerized projection systems, are well supplied, the staff was very helpful and pleasant and they have invited us back for additional programs. As a matter of fact, there is another event coming up in June (Ocean’s Day) and they have offered us the use of one of theaters on the first floor!! It is exciting that we can partner with the Museum of Discovery and Science and Richard believes we will have many years of cooperation with them. Richard thanks Jesse Zito of the Museum for the kind assistance he gave us and Michael Galka (Jonathan’s dad) for the wonderful lunch he treated them to.
During her husband’s military career, Sonny Ogden’s family was stationed in Micronesia’s Marshall Islands on Kwajalein Atoll for three years. Measured by lagoon size Kwajalein is the world’s largest coral atoll, its 97 islands surrounding an immense 2175 sq km body of water. It is located in the middle of the South Pacific, 2136 miles from Hawaii, 2300 miles from New Guinea and 2300 miles from Tokyo. Living in Kwajalein was paradise, with fishing, snorkeling, sailing and diving in abundance.
Sonny had been told about a giant clam [Tridacna gigas], an endangered species, living on one of the coral heads in a nearby lagoon. On April 6, 1967, she planned to photograph the shell while on a dive trip but when her dive party arrived at the coral head, they discovered the shell lying on its side, dead. Greatly disappointed, they took pictures and that is when Sonny decided she wanted to collect the shell, a huge undertaking! The Giant Clam was located in 20 feet of water, so wearing scuba gear and utilizing air bags, they lifted the shell to the surface of the water. It took four people to lift the shell into their boat. Sonny was the proud owner of a very large Killer Clam, Sonny’s nickname for her new giant shell!
In 1969, when her family moved back to the USA, Sonny’s enormous clam, weighing 328 pounds, over 3 feet wide and 2 feet high, was packed in a crate and shipped back with their belongings to the United States , where they settled in Pompano Beach, Florida. Sonny exhibited her Killer Clam at the 2011 Broward Shell Show, winning first prize in the Scientific Self-Collected category.
Sonny’s Killer Clam is now the Broward Shell Show Mascot and will be displayed at our upcoming Broward Shell Show on January 21-22, 2012. Please join us at the show and take your picture with the Killer Clam!!
Pompano Beach Civic Center, 1801 Northeast 6th Street, Pompano Beach FL 33060
The Broward Shell Show is open to the public. Admission and parking are free. Hours: Saturday, 1/21 10am-6pm, Sunday, 1/22 10am-4pm.
For more information, call Nancy Galdo, 305-467-4412.
Fifteen people attended the Immokalee fossil trip Saturday January 7, 2012. Organized by Doug Fisher, Field Trip Chairman and led by Gary Schmelz PHD, past president of the Bailey Matthews Sanibel Shell Museum it was an educational adventure. We met briefly at a local shopping center for a Safety Meeting and to collect hand outs that we used to identify shells then followed Gary in a caravan to the excavating site. This is a working quarry that Gary arranges access to on off hours, otherwise the public is not allowed. A gate is opened to let us in, and then locked behind us.
Gary took us to the first collection site and explained to us that there are over 600 species of shells that are over 500,000 years old in this quarry! At one time there were more than 100 working excavating sites in Florida and now there are only 37 working quarries left. These fossilized shells are in good condition as they have been preserved by the soil.
During the 2+ hours we were at the quarry Gary took us to 3 different collection sites. Some members concentrated on big shells and filed their buckets several times over, while others concentrated on small shells. The 3rd and last site Gary took us to with the quarry was a huge shell mound that we sifted through to find our treasures. The most common finds were Oliva sayana (Olives), Conus spurious (cones) and Stronbus pugilis (fighting conchs).
11 people continued on to lunch at the Long Horn Steakhouse in Naples, where Gary gave away prize specimens to club members, including a fossilized whale bone. Gary provided appetizers for the group and the meal and camaraderie were excellent. For some members this was a repeat trip and everyone agreed it was well worth the effort.
Pictured below include our group in front of a giant shell mound with Gary kneeling in front and an example of the shells we collected.
Dr. Marvin Glickstein spent his working career as an engineer at Pratt Whitney where he patented several new cooling concepts for aircraft engines. As a hobby, he started SCUBA diving, when it was in its early stages. He also owned a boat he named the Lucky Stone which is his name Glickstein translated.
From SCUBA, he wanted to try his hand at dredging and with his close friend John Root, fitted his boat and dredged through the waters of the SE coast from Stuart to Key West and some near Ft. Myers, Florida.
Marvin was a prominent member of the Palm Beach County Shell Club, running field trips and holding several positions including President. He was also a founding member of the Palm Beach Aquarium Club.
Marvin has had several of the shells he dredged up named for himself and his wife Pat and also had several of his dredged shells later named as type specimens.
Marvin will talk about his experiences dredging and will describe some of the trials and experiences he had.
Broward Shell Club 
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