Florida Shelling at Marco Island. Virtual beach combing and low tide treasures and critters.

hello beach friends i can't wait to share this walk with you it's really early in the morning you can see the moon there off in the distance and we are headed down to marco island i chose marco island today for a few reasons it's going to be negative low tide we haven't been here in a while and i wanted to take it easy in the walking department because i was kind of recovering from an injury so let's see what we can find if we're not walking and covering miles and miles of beach spoiler alert we find a whole bunch of goodies and we meet a brand new critter we've never met before [Music] [Applause] [Music] so here we are over at marco island and i am headed to a very specific spot because again i didn't want to do a lot of walking so let me tell you what we're talking about so here's sanibel here's fort myers lovers key naples there that is marco island and then specifically on marco island there's only two places that there's public parking up here by tigertail and down here which they're calling the south beach public parking so that's where i was the south beach public parking and then i made my way over to this part of the beach which really is only accessible if it's negative low tide because when the water comes in gear can't walk i'll kind of show you what i'm talking about so that's specifically where i was and where i was going shelling and i don't know that looks like some good news to me guys seeing the beach littered with relatively good chunks is always a good sign here we have a florida fighting conch and i found so many beautiful florida fighting conchs today so we're going to take a look at those what else okay an olive that is a lettered olive and another lettered olive oooh nice and pointy nice and shiny here's another one okay cool i got my olive quota out of the way and a shark guy now somebody drilled a hole in him and snacked on him that was probably the demise of that little shark eye we're gonna keep it anyway and a nutmeg i love these little guys actually they're not always really little but that happens to be a particularly kind of little nutmeg here we have a sunray venus that what yeah we only have a little tiny hinged piece attached but that is a sunray venus and florida fighting conch i can kind of talk myself into almost anything this this one i like the pattern that the x the kind of like white pattern so there's two different jetties that we are going to go around i went over the first one and then this is the second one and then that kind of lands me behind those buildings that were right up along the water there and as soon as i get over there i see there's so many goodies in the water and it's really clear and i know it's gonna be awesome so here i'm looking around la i did see in the water there was critters we're going to see those in a minute lots and lots of florida fighting conks oh man so pretty and i've managed to get that periastricum that kind of like gray material on the shell i figured out how to get it off i will go ahead and talk about that in the description below look at starfish that is a common sea star okay i just called it a starfish it's not a fish this is a c star a common sea star and they're just pretty we're gonna see a bunch of them today i got this really incredible shot i think it's coming up soon not quite yet alright quick took a little run up to the beach to see if i was missing any action up here ah it's broken look at the pattern on that oh too bad it's busted they're heavy those shelves are really heavy so once you start picking up a couple of them your your shell bag really kind of gets heavy so i try to be picky with the florida fighting concrete that looks like a tinted cantarus with the carrier shell if i'm wrong please let me know those still kind of uh i'm not 100 on some of the smaller shelves but pretty sure that that's what that guy was and here we have some tulip egg casings that is from a tulip snail kind of neat so let's get that back in the water and hopefully it'll make little baby tulips the tide uh it was negative low tide it's coming in at this point oh look at how gorgeous that shell is that beautiful orange color but somebody is home yeah i am not going to be able to keep that let's see if who ever he or she is hanging out in the shell is going to come out and say hi hmm doesn't look like it so we'll just admire this beautiful shell and put this critter back in the water there's another sea star and another sea star and then i realized that they were not everywhere but there was so many of them all so pretty look there's a little tube feet kind of moving around that's how these critters manage to get around they eat things like clams look at them isn't that awesome so yeah these guys will uh they're quite voracious eaters and they eat things like clams and they'll kind of like get their prey at their two feet and kind of pry them apart isn't that cool i was so happy they were in the water and not on the beach and i didn't have to like run around rescuing these guys because i only had so much time the tide is coming in so the clock is kind of ticking just take a peek and put him back and what do we got here beautiful alive apple murex complete with its little operculum gorgeous color gorgeous shell but not a keeper bummer so put them back in the water what else we got all right a little juvenile floored fighting conch oh i like that all right here's another critter this is a nine armed sea star saw a bunch of them too that guy is pretty much buried look at this all right now this is the first time i've ever come across this this is a live paper fig these guys do not have an operculum it does have a foot that's kind of in there it's kind of hard to tell what's going on here um that's the mantle that colorful colorful part of the body that's kind of outside and wrapping on the shell that is part of the animal's body its head is at the tapered part we'll try to take a peek at that so that's the we have found these empty i have never seen one alive i didn't know what to expect this is so neat now i can't you know i'm not seeing a head or eyeballs or really kind of like trying to figure out what's going on here but sure is beautiful and i don't want to keep him out too long and since my husband was actually the one that found it i'm going to let him return it to the water that was really cool some more critters that's another one of those nine arm sea stars now i wanted to check this guy out because he lost part of its arm and look it's growing back i thought that was neat and look at all its little tube feet that's how it moves around with those cool tube feet with got a water hydraulic system so it kind of like pumps water around and that's how it moves around thank you so much for the little the little visit nine arms sea star oh and a florida cone i'd repair itself along the way some somewhere but that's a really pretty pointy little flordicone cool yup look at all the florida fighting conks they were everywhere works for me because i love these guys look at the color oh it's awesome it's a keeper but it's kind of got that little piece missing and because they're heavy i want to be particular this beautiful little pink guy is alive not gonna be i do not have one a pink huge shell because every single one i've ever found was alive and the sea stars so we are gonna keep looking and seeing what the kind of goodies we're gonna find stuff we can keep stuff we can check out all right here's something we can check out it is a critter that my friends is a live lightning welcome you can see that black part that is its body it's part of its foot that shell that snail is alive and well i'm not going to pick it up we're just going to leave it look it was huge it's going to leave it right there all right let's back up onto the beach let's see what other kind of things we can find all right looks like i got ourselves a calico scallop and a little a live juvenile florida fighting conch pretty another buried guy what is that a juvenile florida fighting conch a little lightning whelk it's a pretty shell another lightning milk ooh actually this was the coolest lightning monk i found today it's got fantastic color and those little it's very pointy the top of where those kind of crown pieces are sticking up it's they were actually quite pointy i thought that was a beautiful shell great color great condition very very happy with that guy we have another lightning welcome it's called a florida fighting conch that is not that is a lightning milk there is a cockle which i'm going to not pick up but here is an olive did not pass the muster and here we have another lightning milk yeah i can't tell if i'm going to keep it or not like not sure don't know i know we find a whole bunch so i was able to be a little picky there's another one that's in pretty good shape decent size and all right some buttercup lucy maybe ooh another florida fighting kong oh there's so many different colors of these florida fighting conchs i can't wait to show you we've i found like these almost black ones they're so cool there's a juvenile florida fighting conch and then this guy pretty now here's one ah look at the color it's like almost black i thought that was beautiful and it's also it's just a little bit different than the ones i found down here marco island's about an hour away from where i'm normally going shelling so i'm going to find the same specimens that is a live again apple murax so basically find exactly the same shell specimens but they'll just though i've never really seen that those like black florida fighting and here we have a banded tool up a beat up banded tulip here's another banded tulip it's not quite as beat up but not great it's okay oh look at the color looks like a caramel color beautiful and another lightening look yeah i'll just stick with the beautiful florida fighting look at the pattern on that oh man that is cool super happy with that another lightning milk nice and a couple little tulips here looks like we have ourselves a true tool up that guy on top and then the guy in the bottom is a banded tulip here we have a juvenile florida fighting conch pretty little guy look at that i some of these other the florida fighting it it reminded me of an old pair of jeans like it's kind of like worn in i don't know why some of these shells just really talk to me that guy is saying old denim jeans i don't know why florida fighting kongs florida fighting conks these awesome guys oh man that's beaut i remember this guy hey girlfriend you got a great show and i really wanted it dang it so we'll just leave it it's okay okay every piece of a pen shell that is that pretty iridescent piece called naker so that is naker also known as mother of pearl very cool a little florida fighting which is alive hey hey friend let's put them back and what do we got here apple mirror x alive and well unfortunately i don't know what kind of critter they look kind of this looks like a white i don't know what the goopy thing i'm not sure but that is a live apple mirex darn it darn it so that is a banded tulip which is alive and well and gorgeous beautiful color that's so curriculum it's alive and it must go back to finish getting bigger and doing its thing all right let me give you some beach time i'm going to be quiet a minute two pelicans just passing in the morning light okay back to shelling looks like we got ourselves a crowned konk which that is all sorts of variations of that guy he's a little bit brown sometimes they're purple there's a crown not too spiky but check this guy out i like never find this this is a leafy jewel box kind of cool right yep i thought that was really neat and i have not i rarely find them so i was happy with that guy not this we find these guys all the time lightning milk nice color nice size nice shell oh and a turkey wing you know this guy was like it's like perfect this is a turkey ring i don't know what else to say about it it's great color great shape great find looks like we got ourselves another lightning milk whoa something's going on the bottom there yeah it's okay i think we'll keep it all right let's check out this florida fighting holy cow i'm loving the coloring and the patterns even on top normally the top is white oh that's awesome i just love love love the patterns on that shell another lightning lock right no shortage of those guys today finding a whole bunch of them oh look at the color it's like glowing oh man that's pretty another beautiful orange florida fighting conch oh here's a little horse conk a little baby guy just teasing me we'll keep him or her oh nice coloring another florida fighting conch cool pattern nice white stripe along the outside aperture just a fantastic shell love it and a lightning milk we're doing really good on the lightening locks today oh yay and apple murics we can keep there's an apple murex and another cone all right got ourselves another florida cone it looks like he too had some repair work done but great find and what is this orange guy another little horse conch which is actually a big old member of the tulip family the horse is not a conch go figure i oh know that look he looks all right right maybe on this guy um nah definitely not him him maybe yep definitely keep her clean him up we're gonna take that guy home oh another beautiful florida fighting conch gorgeous color oh man woohoo another one yeah i had a really heavy shell bag i i i oh i'm loving these look it's like a dark coffee color oh it's beautiful beautiful this guy too oh really neat little bit of purple on the inside again i can talk myself into almost any of these shelves but these guys they really are just beautiful another cone right on oh awesome nice color all right he's a little jagged on the edge there but that's another great find another lightning walk woohoo and a nutmeg little nutmeg okay okay here's a calico scallop pretty little shell nice variety and here we have another lettered olive nice what okay another lightning welcome he's very lemon color not not that guy really brown and chipped so i will probably just leave him but yeah check this guy out all right that looks like a keeper okay got a lemon one and a brownish one cool what else we got oh banded tulip all right a keeper it's a great shell and another turkey wing all right he's not quite as pretty as that first one we found okay another nutmeg he's kind of missing his top but still nice pretty little shell and oh yay oh that's fabulous that is a banded tulip that i can keep oh that's a great find yay uh another florida fighting conch with terrific patterns on top oh man he's cool yep keeping that guy and another tulip he's a little beat up he's got some stories to tell but [Music] banded tulip there's another sea star hello friend another interesting fact about these guys their size is not dependent on their age but how much food they eat so if you see a really big one we have no idea how old it is but we do know it eats a lot so that's kind of interesting tube feet another little visit with a sea star common sea star another visit with a florida fighting conch oh love that it's almost like a mustard caramel definitely like that looks like another lightning look yup chipped we'll leave that but this guy yeah we'll leave that too but we do have this guy okay now here you can kind of see that i've walked around the end of the island and if the tide comes in anymore i'm gonna get stuck over here i'm gonna have to kind of climb over those rocks so time was of the essence and as much as i wanted to stay over here shelling i did have to get around again to make sure that i safely got back to the beach and didn't need to kind of scale any kind of condos or climb any walls or anything and on our way around yay another banded tulip woo hoo it's a pretty little fella and a little horse all right he's got a little stuff oh that's a little beat up that's okay let me look wonderful on a mirror and another calico scallop nice those are so pretty and an operculum i saw that kind of floating around complete with a little barnacle on it but that is a little operculum okay this is definitely kind of a little bit of a better shot to let you see how the water is kind of coming in the tides coming in and so it's making it much more difficult to kind of walk around these jetties earlier you can kind of you know the water was up to my ankles and now it's probably above my knees you know maybe mid thigh which isn't terrible but i do have a backpack and i have equipment with me so i definitely don't want to uh don't want to go swimming quite yet just want to kind of make my way around the jetty this is what i'm doing very carefully as soon as i pop out i have to see what kind of shells we got oh that's a pretty calico scallop that is a keeper and look at that lace murax my husband had that waiting for me when i finally caught up with him so i'll take that fabulous lace mirrors and now we're kind of making our way back to the car we've done all our shelling we did not walk far at all and then we'll just take one little peak that is lover's key there over on the left this is a little bridge over on the right that is the south part of fort myers beach take a little quick peek at that before we look at all the goodies we found yup we did quite well tons of lightning welcoming we were picking up left and right did really good on those that cool leafy jewel box that was neat a couple of crown conks some shark eyes a couple of those horse conks and all the florida fighting kongs beautiful from like almost like super light to super dark really like those the olives couple of calicos scallops tulips we did real well a couple of those cones the lace mirrors really really cool a couple of nutmegs so yeah i'm going with awesome so much fun and didn't even have to walk that far so thank you as always for watching i love you guys and a special thanks to my producers who help make videos like this possible so next week we are going to do i'm not giving any information it's going to be a total surprise i cannot wait to share it with you thank you so much for everything make sure you check the description below for information on how to clean your florida finding conchs and see you next week