Journey Through January

Below are the photos I took at the end of January...it was a pretty good beach-combing day! 

I arrive at the beach about 15-20 min. before sunrise; parking is about two blocks' distance north of the best shelling spots, near the mouth of Matanzas Inlet and the bridge over the inlet. So normally my first photos are of the sunrise, right before I descend upon the best shelling area . . .

This calico scallop was a nice surprise ~ probably the prettiest one I've found on the east coast.

In January I found two horse conch spirals (different days); this is the 2nd one (see previous post for 1st one). I very rarely find any tips like this let alone a whole conch; they are much more common on the Gulf. Below is the one and only whole horse conch I've found in five solid years of shelling Matanzas Beach. It was a very rare and lucky find! (Found in 2015) I've left it as is; if I clean it up it will be solid white. As battered as it is, I don't want to risk more damage, plus I like the coloring.

Heading back, south of the bridge . . . this landscape changes so much, even by the month . . .

A pretty shark eye . . .

A fossilized lettered olive . . . very rare for me to find one in this beige color. See below - the white fossilized one is from sun exposure; not sure if the beige one is earlier phase of sun bleaching, before turning white; black one is from the shell being buried in sediment for a long time (lack of oxygen).

A lovely number three . . .

A scallop and two shark eyes all found close together . . .

Another pretty, "fresh" scallop . . . most the scallops I find are "aged"

A golden jingle shell (oyster var.); gold ones are the least common I find. White is most common, then there are black ones; also black from being buried in sediment a long time (goes for all shells).

This scallop is in good cond., but does show a bit of "aging"

A lightning whelk . . . just a little bit rough on the edge of the aperture's outer lip . . .

A young angelwing . . . surprising since normally I find this species of angelwing full-size . . .

This is the second one of these bones I've found...any clue? It's the plastron (lower shell) bone of a sea turtle . . .

Surprisingly, of all the gray and black tinted shells I find, this is only the second buttercup lucine I've found discolored. The outside shell is originally white, with cream or yellow inner shell. The Atlantic seems to produce the cream ones, the Gulf has the yellow ones. The ones here on the Atlantic side are also much bigger. My field guide says they reach 2.5" but I have one that is 4" across.

A light colored lettered olive . . .

This day I found several small, whole mussel shells, extremely unusual! And yes, it does look like a black butterfly, or moth!

Another pretty white baby's ear to add to the collection.