Argopecten irradiansconcentricus Say, 1822

Shell and TellThe Newsletter of the Gulf Coast Shell Club

Published by the Gulf Coast Shell Club, Inc. Panama City, Flordia

Club Officers:President - Gwen LawrenceVice President - Debbie MonteSecretary - Bri HoldmanCorresponding Secretary - D. J. MooreTreasurer - Jim BrunnerMembership - Phyllis BernardLibrarian - Luke CooleyRaffle - Linda WalkerNewsletter - Linda Brunner

November - December 2014

Upcoming Events

Meeting, November 11th, 7 PM There will be an interesting raffle.

Christmas Social, December 13 at 2PM at the Brunners ( email with details soon)

Calling all shellers. I just received my COA magazine and as always it is filled with informa-tion and accounts of exciting adventures of what others are experiencing in waters around the world. If you do not take the magazine, the club gets a copy to put in our library. There was a very interesting COA resolution in this September 2014 issue that repeated a resolve adopt-ed the 26th of June, 1995. Conchologists of America endorses responsible Scientific Collect-ing as a means of monitoring the status of mollusk species and populations and promoting informed decision making in regulatory processes intended to safeguard mollusks and their habitats. So as collectors we have a mission to contribute to science of conchology by noting as many facts as possible when we are collecting.

The weather is calling to us that we need to take advantage of how pleasant the outdoors is for checking out the beaches. I hope you are going out and will have some interesting finds to show at our next meeting. Gwen

For a quick “feel- good” moment view the following link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=badHUNl2HXU&list=PL7B811C9587F0595A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=badHUNl2HXU&list=PL7B811C9587F0595A

Copy and paste.

Look What’s Out There!

Found and photographed by Brian Neal,

Artificial Reefs: Why they are Important to the

Marine Ecosystem

The coral reefs are considered the ‘underwater rainforest’ where thousands of marine species come together to live and grow in harmony. The coral reef is an ecosystem within itself, with tiny corals and polyps that attach to each other on top of a hard ground in order create the large and magnificent shapes and colors with which we are so familiar. Today, coral reefs are degrading and are becoming smaller in size around the world. This is where arti-ficial reefs come into the picture in that they help to improve the underwater rainforest and the largest underwater ecosystem. Some crit-ics complain that artificial reefs will hurt the environment, that they cost too much and are not effective enough to invest in. While there maybe some downfalls, but there are more benefits than costs for the use of artificial coral reefs around the world’s coastlines. The ways artificial reefs are beneficial to the ecosystem are that they create a structure for coral pol-yps to cling onto and grow into coral reefs, increase fish reproduction and fishing produc-tion, and increase economic values through diving and tourism by investors.Coral polyps are small invertebrates which come together and grow into a large coral reef. Unfortunately, because of environmental con-ditions, diseases and certain types of fishing, they are being threatened (“WOW! Florida | Artificial Reefs - Pros and Cons”). Not only are the coral reefs are under threat, but also all of the marine life is threatened because their

home is slowly degrading worldwide. If there are more artificial reefs placed in the ocean, not only will it increase coral reefs, but also the population of small juvenile fish species. “By providing shelter from predation...the man-made structure creates a habitat. Lower level food chain organisms attract predators increasing the biodiversity” (“Artificial Reefs: What are Artificial Reefs?”). All organisms, from the coral invertebrates and small juvenile fish to the large predators, are essential to hav-ing a successful artificial reef. Every organism in the marine ecosystem benefits from having artificial reefs in the environment.Unfortunately, some are against the artificial reefs projects. Not because they do not want to help save the coral reefs and the fish popu-lations, but because they argue that it is not a natural solution. People who oppose the artificial reef programs argue that “dumping junked items in the ocean is just an easy way to dispose of scrap material – a waste disposal activity under the umbrella of artificial reef construction” (“Artificial Reefs: New Methods for Helping Create and Restore Coral Reefs”). The opposing side fights with the fact that the materials that are being dumped into the ocean are unsafe and therefore should not be a solution for saving marine life. Tom Bower-man and the articles, “Artificial Reefs: New Methods for Helping Create and Restore Coral Reefs” and “Artificial Reefs: What are Artifi-cial Reefs?”, assert(s) that the materials used to make the reefs could be potentially danger-ous – mainly for the fact that they could leak out toxic pollutants into the ocean water, as well as the material could degrade decades lat-er, destroying any reefs already grown on the structures. Also, the materials – either man-made or recycled – could sink into the sand, rust, and even come loose and wreak havoc throughout the ocean floors. An example would be the dumping of over 700,000 tires

by Chelsey Higdon

The following is Part I of an article by Chelsey Higdon, our scholarship winner from GCSC. Thanks to Chelsey for allowing us to print her article here. Part II will ap-pear in our January newsletter. The article was previ-ously printed in: Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association Newsletter

by Walt BaldwinPhotos by Robyn Kadis

These pictures of shells are from a young lady who is doing bird research in Mozambique. I got to know her, as a stamp collector, as is her father also. She is very busy right now doing this bird research, of both birds inland, and on the beach. She has a schedule of 3 weeks and is on day 12, with 9 more to go. Her home is in South Africa. For those of you who do not know where Mozambique is, it is on the East coast of Africa just North of South Africa.

She happened to be on the beach, and saw ladies with buckets on their heads. She asked them if they could see what was in the buckets. In the buckets were at least 2 to 3 large cowries, along with some kind of crab, and lots of them. In one of the pictures you will see two ladies bartering over some shells. By the way, they eat the animal inside of these shells. One of the pictures is of, what looks like a money cowrie, the other a tiger cowrie.

The young girls of this country learn to carry these buckets on there head at a very early age. My friend Say’s Mozambique is famous for the shells on it’s beaches. You will also see a picture of one of the cow-ries broken open, ready to cook.There is also a picture of a star fish, found in shallow waters on this beach.

from Mozambique

Two sides of a Money Cowrie,Cypraea moneta Linnaeus, 1758.

off the coast of Fort Lauderdale in 1972 and again in 1986 off of the New Jersey coast...though the tires were strapped together, the straps were often no match for tropical storms that tore them apart (Fismer; “Sunk On Pur-pose”). After the incident of the tires, they now roam the ocean floors and even wash up on the beaches as trash. On the other hand, there is a way to make the materials used for artificial reefs environmentally safe for the ocean. Carol Cox, spokesperson for Mexico Beach Artifi-cial Reef Association (MBARA), said that one way to help determine which materials are and are not safe is to have research divers investi-gate the materials’ toxic levels, corrosion, and stability in the environment; to learn from and improve the mistakes made in the past through this research. The research that is conducted by research divers will be used to increase the effectiveness of the artificial reefs. Another important part of the usage of man- made and recycled materials are the laws and regulations for these materials so that they do not put out toxins or debris. “FDEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) will only allow clean concrete or rock, clean steel boat hulls, other clean, heavy gauge steel products with a thickness of a quarter of an inch or greater and prefabricated structures that are a mixture of clean concrete and heavy gauge steel” (Flu-ech). There are many other regulations, includ-ing the placement of the reefs and making sure that it will not disrupt the naturally-occurring coral reef ecosystems. Because of all of the regulations, laws and research done for artifi-cial reefs, people have found more successful materials for them. Cleaned rocks and steel ships are great resources for artificial reefs, but the most productive material of all is pH level concrete that has limestone inbedded in it, which helps the coral to attach to the structure, which in turn brings the juvenile and larger fish to the reefs (Cox). With the correct regula-

tions and laws for materials, artificial reefs can be beneficial.

*****Part II in the next newsletter.

Mozambique con’d

Cowries with crabs. Notice one of the cowries has its top removed to show the animal inside.

A lone, very round, cowrie.

A local starfish.

Above: Bartering for Tiger Cowries, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, 1758.

*****

MEANWHILE, ON THE FIELD-TRIP FRONT

by Jim Brunner

We checked in with Tyndall Natural Resources to get permission to go on base for some field trips this fall/winter to St Andrews Sound, Redfish Point, and the Drone Launch on St Andrews Sound. In doing so we learned about a new policy just being implemented.

Non-DOD and military personnel may now obtain a permit to enter the base on any day. While the website through which to do this is not completely constructed yet the basics are there at https: tyndall.isportsman.net. The permit, costs $11.00 (which covers the cost of the necessary background check) and can be completed online at the website. This takes a couple of weeks to process the paperwork. Once this is in hand the other ele-ment is to get a “hard card” photo ID at the visitors center across from the Sabre Drive Gate (first check-point entry gate to the south when coming from PC). No time frame was given for this but if it’s like normal ID procedures it should take about 30 minutes. After that you are free to come and go subject to normal base restrictions (i.e., no St Andrews Sound on weekdays).

There are a ton of low tides com-ing up in the next few months. Because the club is restricted to weekend fieldtrips I’ve listed some of the best below. However there are a lot of weekday lows that you may want to take advantage of and that can be found at www.saltwa-tertides.com. You want the Florida/Gulf Coast section of the list (click the dot), scroll way down until you get to the local area and click on a dot of your choice, then pick the month/first date desired/number of days buttons and click “get tides”. The tides for the club are given in

Thatchera mirabilis Angas, 1877

Japanese Wonder Shell

Frank Lloyd Wright, so the story goes, gave a Thatcheria mirabilis to each of his graduates with the admonition, “When you are a hot-shot architect and are lauding your own work remember to take this shell out of your pocket and realize you’ll never create a design as noble and beautiful as that made by this humble piece of muscle.”

Sunray Venus at St. Andrews Sound

Macrocallista nimbosa (Linnaeus, 1758)

Did you know that there are more than 14 venus shells found on our local beaches?

Do you hear the ocean when you place a shell

next to your ear?

Wellllllllll maybe yes, if you are on the shore, no, if you are inland. So, what do you hear? You hear ambient noise or the noise around you.To put it simply the shell acts as an amplifier of the noise around you....the shell pro-vides a resonator.

When you hold a shell to your ear you are a holding a hard object with many hard, curved surfaces. These sur-faces reflect sound. The size and shapes of shells provide different sounds because they have different shapes and different “rooms” inside. Matt Soniak in Mental Floss suggests the following experi-ment. A cheap resonator can be formed by forming an O shape with your mouth. Then thump your finger against your cheek and you will hear a note. Make the O smaller and the tone of the sound will change.You are hearing a sound produced by air vibrat-ing in a space with one open-ing.

I’m sorry. I just took away all of the romance of hearing the ocean in a shell while you are sitting in Omaha.

Linda

the format (date/time/minus tide in tenths of a foot). 23 Nov/7:43/0.5. 6 Dec/7:10/-0.7. 7 Dec/7:58/-0.7. 20 Dec/6:09/-0.8. 21 Dec/6:58/-1.0. 3 Jan/6:28/-1.0. 4 Jan/7:08/-1.0. 10 Jan/8:46/-0.3. 11 Jan/8:30/-0.2. 17 Jan/5:15/-1.0. 18 Jan/6:02/-1.2. 31Jan/5:36/-1.0. 1Feb/6:14/-1.0.

I would suggest the following field trips for November 2014 thru Febru-ary 2015:

23 November: Tyndall Drone Launch

7 December: Tyndall Redfish Point/Golf Course area (not visited by the club in the last decade).

18 January: St Andrews Sound

1 February: Port St Joe sandbars.

If you have suggestions on other places to go please mention them at the 11 November club meeting.

Cedar Key is always a possibility if enough want to go.

*******

Cool Molluscan Stuff!Egg capsules of the tinted can-tharus, Gemophos tinctus (Con-rad, 1846) were photographed by Robert Bachand in Estero Bay a few years ago. Small embryos may be seen inside the cases surrounded by nutritious intracapsular liquid. The opaque-white capsules near the center of the image are spent, empty of embryos. Images of the tinted cantharus shell are shown below.

From The Curator’s Corner, Dr. Jose Leal,

Baily-Matthews National Shell Museum

Editor’s note: We find these at the jetties at St. Andrews State Park and sometimes at the sound.

DID YOU KNOW... !Sometimes mollusks have the ability to practice autotomy - to dis-card parts of their body, and laterregenerate those parts. The pupose is to attract predators to the dis-carded part while the mollusk leaves! The Rosy Razor Clam can slough off rings of its siphonwhen threatened. Harp shells can leave part of their foot and it is partly because the genus Morum does the same that it has been moved from the family Cassidae to Harpidae. Below: Morum oniscus

Taken from The Beaui, newsletter of the Sarasota Chell Club, Peggy Williams, Editor