Florida Beach Combing at Low Tide. A virtual beach walk to find shells, crabs, creatures and more!

hello beach friends today we are gonna be walking fort myers beach one of my favorite beaches because it's close to my house i know it like the back of my hand it's gonna be low tide and we're definitely gonna talk about the tides today and fort myers beach gives me shells and critters so let's go to the beach and see what we [Music] find [Music] [Applause] [Music] so today we'll be gracing the beaches of fort myers beach looks like we're going to start off with a disc dosenia relatively common not that hard to find pretty shell with those nice bands on it and here we have a little cokina i love these guys they're so pretty they're just these little clam shells we'll talk a little bit about them a little later but they're just pretty guys check out this guy little guy just motoring along this is a bruised nasa and one of the littler shells so i don't typically go hunting for these guys per se but they're generally all over the beach and since he was kind of cruising along not quite as fast as your lettered olive but i thought we'd give him a little visit and here we have a jingle a common jingle of the white shiny variety okay we found a couple more coquinas but here which i normally don't ever get really see is they're on top of the sand and they're just kind of looks like they're trying to eat they are algae eaters they are one of the most abundant and ecologically important mollusks on florida beaches because they filter feed algae and bacteria and they are a critical food source for shorebirds and surf fishes so thanks little coquinas here we have just a regular old buttercup leucine nothing spectacular on one side and on the other you got not pretty buttery color and we have a spiny jewel box let's see the spiny factor is minimal but he doesn't kind of have that one horn so i'm going to keep it so the tide is low and we will i will going to talk about that in just a second and the reason we go with low diet is because it exposes more things generally here we have just a regular old slipper snail and one of your crossbard venus clams so when the tide is low it just exposes more of the beach and you kind of increase your chances on finding things and what i use is an app called tide charts that's what it looks like i have a iphone so in the apple store it looks like that when you first get on there it looks like this but i hit that little menu on the left then i hit the menu on the upper right and i use the map and i kind of navigate where i want to go this is carlos point is actually fort myers beach and so that is what i used to check out the tides and down in the bottom left in that yellow box that's where i'm looking for the tides and the low tides are what i'm always looking for so once i'm done checking that out i'll go back out again and i'll check another area here we have sanibel and so if i was looking to see what the tides are going to be like on sanibel i'm looking at those low tides in the bottom left and so this is how i check what the tides might be like for the next couple of days i love this app it's i always have my phone on me so at any time i can always just kind of poke through and see where i want to feel like going and then i do it again i use the map function of it it's for me it just makes more sense and i mean i know the name of some of them but here we're looking at little hickory and so again those low tides of course at some point i don't know that i want to go shelling at midnight but if i wanted to i would probably go at low tide and use this app to kind of help me navigate it so that's what i do to help find myself my low tides so i can find shells like this surf clam which really isn't that remarkable except i love that it has those see-through pieces of it so i'm digging that kind of shell and here we have i believe this is just a quahog that has lost its color but that's just a juvenile and here we have a sun ray venus that someone clearly has drilled a hole into so that was the demise of that poor critter somebody ate them there are a bunch of different shells that will drill holes the shark guy the apple murex golf oyster drills so there are some shells that will or snails that will do that here we have just a calico scallop those purple and white ones they are not that prolific over here so that's kind of cool and here we have another one of those surf clams i can't help it i just think it's cool that it has that section of it that's thinner than the rest of the shell here we have a black jingle he is a common jingle they come in all different colors but here we have a nice dark black guy all right looks like i decided to go up on the beach and check out the shell pile um somebody has already been through it you can kind of tell because there's dips in it and it's not all uniform in shape we've got ourselves a kind of a beat up olive lots of the common things uh the crossbar venus the arcs like this another jingle and a broad ribbed cardeta those are kind of fun also extremely common just like the ponderous ark there's another one we started talking about i want you guys to know well i want to know all the shells so in turn we're going to learn them all here's another spiny jewel box which is merely a bit lumpy and not quite spiny and a serrath looks like i also managed to find one of those common jingles of the orange variety now this guy i'm almost positive was drilled by a shark eye because shark eye snails leave a counter sunk circular hole that has an outer diameter about twice that of the inner diameter so on that particular shell i'm thinking shark i ate the contents here is a five hole keyhole sand dollar we're going to find another one a little bit later that is much darker but this guy's been hanging around on the beach for a little while so he's actually a little bit lighter in color and another cokina i was just fascinated by these guys on this particular day you never know what's going to strike my fancy it looks like i was on a coquina kick but look at this one it's like iridescent that coral color on the very edge oh it's just beautiful so those pretty common little shells can be awful pretty here we have a disco docena looks like a record all those little lines in it okay looks like we got ourselves a little angel wing a little tiny angel wing yep he's a little chipped on the end but i'm gonna keep him anyway oh another one yep that is an angel wing and that is an angel wing i'm gonna find one similar to this we'll talk about that a little bit later another angel wing and here's a duck clam a sailor's ear that actually reminds me of angel wings so there you go and another duck clan this guy's a little bit they're usually white and he's probably just been hanging around the beach for a little while so he's absorbed some other kind of algae and slime like colors here's a giant atlantic cockle they are fabulous for digging and carrying little shells in and here's a dystocina that's actually still alive so he's all tucked up in there i figure i'll just help a little shell out or help a snail out what is he he's a bivalve actually so help a clam out here's another bivalve here's a calico scallop and i haven't found one of these in a while this is an operculum that's a little trapdoor for probably a lightning walk kind of cool and a florida fighting conch look at the stromboid notch on that guy wow he's kind of pretty i like him and sun ray venus complete with some ivory barnacles those usually can kind of pick right off but i'm not going gonna keep it here's a florida fighting conch and here's another one now look check this out the same shell same snail rather not the same shell obviously but two completely different colors so you never know what you're going to find here we have another spiny jewel boxes okay he's got like a little horn going on there he's spiny ish and a slipper snail that is just one of those common atlantic slipper snails here's another one i i couldn't quite tell they're both not atlantic i don't know what that other one was but these are kind of interesting because it's the slipper snails are actually gastropods and they're one of the few marine shells that could not that are not formed rather in that spiral shape so that's kind of neat here is a crossbard venus which was very textured so again i thought that was kind of cool here's another sunray venus but this guy is hinged he's attached with his other side and the coloring's kind of black which i like and the i love the i call them blonde like the blonde florida fighting conks this really might be a different species again i don't know but i'm just going with florida fighting conch and i'm going to keep it that is something that is white with some black spots on it i don't know what it was i have no idea i thought it was kind of cool look at this cool guy i've never seen one of these and i also was not able to actually identify it i believe it's some sort of brittle star beyond that i couldn't quite i did my research i couldn't figure out what it was there's a couple different ones that are down here and i didn't think it was one of those so i'm just going with it's a brittle star of some sort look at how pretty just like the beautiful star on the inside so he is alive and well and we'll get him back in the water but just wanted to take a quick peek at this beautiful guy and share him with you now this is not a beautiful guy he's all squishy i think that is a sea squirt they sometimes attach themselves with shells and whatnot and they're they filter water so we'll just get them back in and this guy was different because it had all that the pattern on it is not one i usually see on an adult florida fighting so i thought that was kind of neat oh hello little guy i think this is a ruddy turnstone so i figured since he was being all cute hanging out by himself just take a quick peek all right here it looks like we have some sea pork now it is a little rubbery it almost feels like a real hard eraser and then we have this piece of junk so that'll make its way probably to the garbage or to a little kid that i find along the way look at that weirdness that is sea pork isn't it weird so those are filter feeders and this would normally be lodged on the bottom of the sea floor so at something dislodged it which is why it kind of washed up onto the beach so isn't that weird looking yeah and this artifact um it's an old pull tab from soda can how it was only turned up now i have no idea but that was kind of an interesting find so right here on the beach because the beach changes as you go looks like we're going through lots of seaweed lots of other kind of stuff washed up looks like we can have ourselves a prickly cockle there's a hinged prickly cockle that's kind of neat and a little now i'm pretty sure that's a lace even though it's so tiny and it does not quite as lacy it looks a little bit more elongated than an apple so i'm pretty sure that is a lace mirex and here we have a banded tulip complete with a hole in it oh wow and look at this handsome fella this is a spider crab could be male could be female i have absolutely no idea pretty little guy right wow so ah this is a close-up of a spider crab and here we have some variable worm shells which we found over in lover's key the last time we were over there which i just showed you it's kind of some weird worm shell rock and here we have a lightning whelk that's not so weird and another lightning milk all right that's pretty cool we'll keep those like we might have found another lightning welk and big old broken angel wing oh well it's kind of missing its end that would have been pretty what else all right piece of lightning welk which totally tricked me i kind of found it funny so i decided to stick it back in the sand to trick somebody else look at this weird thing it kind of looks like sea pork the texture was like sea pork not the shape though that was just kooky looking and this is another weird glob probably sea liver maybe because they're saying that the sea pork is really kind of a gray or a pink but some other kind of weird globular stuff i found on the beach and here we have something much less goopy here we have a pear whelk it's only a little bit chipped but that's a really decent find i used to think that that might be a channel welcome but we don't get those down here that is a pairwilk and we have ourselves another pair of elk this guy has soaked up a little bit of color but all in all not too shabby of a shell and here we have you might think they're angel wings but i don't think they are i think these guys are compache i think i'm saying that right angel wings it's not a real angel wing it's not a false angel wing it's that campache and a florida fighting conk he is lovely not really so much purple in there but just a real fine example of a florida fighting and a shark eye this is a moon snail of sorts we call a shark eye handsome little fella ooh a crown conk yay oh he's awesome he's relatively spiky got some nice color probably will clean it real good if we dip them so that that's a real nice find that is a crowned conch and a letter to olive can't resist those guys all right pretty nice i haven't picked up 100 of them today just a couple nice letter to olive this i thought it might be a rental trap because i've never found one and it kind of had that shape and i'm looking at it and i'm like no ultimately i think it's just a sarah but i was really hoping that was a rental trap oh well and we have a juvenile florida fighting conch empty and then he's pretty he's all brown a little bit of purple on the inside but that is a real pretty florida fighting conch like that dark color and another moon snail this is a colorful moon snail also called a gaudy nautica beautiful little guy and here we have a short spine sea urchin that's all dressed up just kind of hanging out on the beach showing off how pretty he is or she they are and okay it is a hinged sun ray venus again with that black i figured i'd wash it off and yeah the inside's kind of a hot mess so i'm i'm going to leave that for somebody else i think i already got one of those today so i'm good and here's another little look how spiky this guy is he's also a short spine sea urchin but he's really spiky looks like he's got a little surf clam he's all dressed up too just kind of put them a little bit closer to the water and so this is what low tide had in store for us definitely finding really cool things the critters the shells this little banded tulip oh all right he's not perfect but still he's a pretty okay find looks like we got a hinged disc dosenia and one of those channeled duck clams and a broad ribbed cardina that's kind of a cool shell i'm definitely going to keep that guy and the sand dollar now this one's really dark unlike the one we found earlier which was really really light he is really dark but he's also very much deceased they both are clearly there's nothing out diff it's smooth like that perfectly safe to take home regardless of the color i've been told the dark ones are alive but that is not true that guy totally safe to take home here we have another florida fighting conch oh yeah he is super cool he's got a little bit of purple in there he's spiky he does have a layer of that sea stuff but i want to keep it anyway now this you'll see this is a lightning whelk egg casing all tangled up in the tree here and at first i was like oh man but i think everybody hatched there is nobody home nothing in there and i did bring a piece home just in case um there was some little shells in there but it was empty there is nobody home so i was pretty psyched about that we got another florida fighting conch oh it's too bad he's a little beat up yeah nice color i like that kind of blonde color so i do what any good respectable beachcomber would do with a shell like this i stick it on a tree yep i figured i'll just add it to the collection that has started here and we'll just i'm going to be quiet for a minute let you enjoy the beach okay that was really hard to be quiet so let me let's see what other stuff we're gonna find little kitten paw he's not the normal color he probably got soaked up a little bit of that beach color but that is indeed a kitten paw ooh all right that's a calico scallop not that it's completely unheard of over on fort myers but normally i find those over in sandoval and here's another little coquina look how pretty oh i'm just over the moon over those rose petal talon they're like that bazooka bubble gum color they're kind of fun little shells they're like always that same size too which is kind of funny oh a spiny jewel box which is definitely pretty spiky alright that is a great find a spiny jewel box well hi handsome this is a mottled purse crab i have never seen one of these guys just kind of chilling hanging out i found the box crabs this kind of looks like that because he's kind of pretty it's kind of got a leopard coloring going on but this guy let's just say modeled purse crab it doesn't seem to bother him kind of hanging out in the surf just gonna kind of dig in and enjoy the day i think that's a good way to spend some time buddy i'm with you hanging out on the beach is the place to be and what else another calico scallop another rose petal talon and a little shark eye that's pretty cool nobody snacked on him he's intact relatively decent color that's a pretty good find and here here we have uh oh looks like he's got something going on all right somebody is home this is a juvenile florida fighting conch somebody's home and something happened to his shell at some point he's got like a little indentation there but he's got plenty of time to get bigger and repair himself so i'll tuck them in help a little fella out another moon snail i'm gonna go ahead and leave that guy and lettered olive let's check this guy out give it the old gloss test all right looks like he passed the muster nice and pointy i keep that guy oh a base scallop he's pretty too not broken or anything so at this point the tide is starting to come in a little bit if you don't like the weather just wait a few minutes it'll probably change and look how clean the beach is before we had all that seaweed and now there's nothing so if you keep walking it just keeps on changing and a little button snail they are tiny tiny little guys they're real pretty though but they only get about that big and it looks like the husband found some great stuff that shark eye is awesome along with the worm snail the pear whelk and a very very beat up lace mirrex which has seen better days but still pretty cool collection along with this very colorful colorful moon snail there's another gory norika he's a little chipped but still real pretty and check that out that's awesome that is also a shark eye that is a fantastic find nice gloss on him guys look oh baby's here and what kills me is that so many people probably have walked right past all these different shells so don't give up if you're not finding anything just keep at it because it i swear they're the shells are there it's got to be determined another shark eye he probably started out with somebody snacking on him and that hole got a little bit bigger here we have a lightning milk looks relatively normal from that these i it's like this certain age lightning walk looks weird from that side but from the other side it looks fine here's a pear whelk it's a little tiny pear whelk i know there's just something about that size lightning well that just looks awkward to me here we have a common sea star he's just kind of hanging out so i'll show you the other side of him i'll do that in just a second isn't that pretty looks like he's kind of he's waving see what that one arm is doing he's waving hey hey guys so he's saying hi i'm quite sure of it and lightning milk yeah it took me a minute but that is another fine lightning lock ooh an olive and yep another lightning welt woohoo all right cool and another looks like the lightning milk jackpot over here very cool and oh florida fighting conch he's so pretty i like him he looks a little beach worn but just the right way so i don't know i'm gonna keep that guy and another short spine sea urchin also all dressed up good hello handsome very well just do what i always do check them out and then leave them be all right what do we got here looks like yep a pairwilk missing lots of his color but still decent decent shell speaking of decent shells that's a pretty that's actually a really awesome pairwilk great size little bit of color that's an awesome find and empty yay a juvenile florida fighting conch go figure yeah um well a very 20 percent of a pair welk and here we have a lightning log that's a really good find now check out this beauty i was being a little daring here because i wasn't really sure if it was going to turn around and snap me or not but look at how beautiful this blue crab isn't it pretty oh it's just gorgeous pretty sure that's a male i don't know for sure but i'm pretty sure that is a male blue crab and i thought he was beautiful and wanted to show you guys and i also managed to do it without getting pinched so bonus for me everyone's a winner and a little horse broken oh well i still keep picking up those pieces now look at that weird jingle that is a jingle it's all big and weird and lumpy and here we have an olive lettered olive he's all glossy he's got his point he's got some bonus shells jammed in there so that is a fine lettered olive o horse conk how you tease me yet again another it's most of one i can easily use that for a craft so i'm definitely going to keep that and so that concludes our walk guys it looks like we found ourselves all sorts of goodies let's start with some angel wings and a couple of those scallops these spiny jewel boxes shark eyes a whole bunch of those duck clams and a sand dollar florida fighting conch i can't resist a bunch of lightning walks which was a bonus a couple of pair welks a couple of olives some jingles and some things that i don't even know what they are some augers and seraphs and little coquina rose petal talon awesome day awesome awesome so guys thank you so much it was a long walk i hope you enjoyed seeing all the critters and learning about all the shells and whatnot and i will see you again next week until then stay awesome