I identify everything on the beach. Let's check out a Florida Island.

Hello beach friends. I've been doing this for over six years now and the joy of the hunt never fades. Walking the shoreline, scanning the sand, letting myself be fully present is where it all begins. To me, seashells are truly nature's jewels shaped by time, tide, and chance. The real magic comes from slowing down, noticing what's right in front of us, and being grateful for every find. Now most of today is about joy, the beach, the shells, and the peace that comes with slowing down. But before we get into the heart of the hunt, let's talk about something that isn't supposed to be here, and until now I haven't even talked about on my channel. Invasive feral hogs are a serious environmental problem here in Florida. They're not native, they reproduce incredibly fast. A single sow can have multiple litters a year. And as they root through the ground, they destroy native plants, damage dunes and wetlands, and disrupt habitats that many native species depend on. They also contribute to erosion, degrade water quality, and compete with native wildlife for food. And so while they might look like another wild animal, their impact on Florida's ecosystems is anything but harmless. And that impact is felt most by the native wildlife that calls these places home. I definitely was not excited to see these hogs, even though it was the first time I've seen them on a boat ride. I get more excited when I see these types of critters, the critters that are supposed to be here, the egrets, the herons, the roseate spoonbills, which we're going to see just in a second. Those are very exciting because they're permanent residents here, and they're pink. And who doesn't like to see a pink bird? And I don't get to see the flamingos. So it's always nice to see the roseate spoonbills. So we're making our way over. Oh, there's another one. It's so pink. You can see, oh, love that. So the pigs, not, not, not, I'm not, you know, I like the critters, but I really do have a, I kind of have a, I'm, I'm not for the feral hogs at all. All right, off hogs onto shells. So I'm on the sandbar. So there's the island of Key Waden, and then there's the sandbar. And so right now we're on the sandbar. Me and a couple other of my beach friends, we shared a boat ride over to the sandbar. All right, here's a fighting conch. I happen to need a couple of those. So yeah, I will be looking for real handsome examples of that. Lovely. Nice stromboid notch. And it's early, I know, but you know, I think it just might be one of those days. Oh, a sand dollar. Lovely. I can get a little picky with the sand dollars. I don't know if I'm going to, I can't decide if that one, I mean, that one's okay. I'm going to show you a better one in a little bit. You'll see, you'll see why I might be a little picky. Would you look, this is a true tulip. One of the most spectacular red ones I have ever seen. It's pretty big. Yeah, it's alive. I can see its operculum kind of poking out of the sand next to it. So I'm just going to leave it completely alone, just admire it and hope I can find something just as awesome. And that's what I'm going to do. I cannot control what is actually going to be here, but I will concentrate on the coolest things I find. We're going to have a teaching moment with the quahog and we'll also step back in time once or twice just to see what all Key Waden has given us in the past. So if you're ready to see what all is out there for us today, let's go to the beach. Okay. The scene has been set. I'm on a sandbar and I'm looking for seashells. All right. That critter is not done. Neither is that one. Those are not done with their shells quite yet. All right. Looking for something uninhabited, empty. Finding conch works for me, but you're alive. Oh, you're right. Yeah. You had a repair there. Good job. Good job, buddy. All right. Let's see what all. Oh, what do we have now? I see something. I see the little claws of a big red hermit crab. It was red with like little white tips on it. And yeah, I mean, it's all the way in there. Now, what is interesting with this shell is it look at all. So there's white slipper snails. There's probably some oysters. Obviously there's barnacles, a slipper or two. Not surprising. So there's a whole little apartment building going on here with the landlord, the main landlord being that that hermit crab. So I'm going to leave that shell here. I know it was hard to see, but there was a critter in there. Otherwise, I might have kept the shell that is alive. It's a littered olive. And what do we have here? Oh, oh, it's the whole shell. Would you look at that? So this is a sinister folger, sinistrum or lightning welk. Yeah. Terrific. Oh, that's great. Very happy with that lightning welk. All right. So at this point, the tide is coming in. I still think it was a good day to come here because the tide was so low. So it's going to come in, but it's still going to be very low for a long time. So that's why I chose to come on this day. Oh, hi there, keyhole limpet. Isn't that cool? Yeah, that's terrific. You know what's funny is I seem to find them. I rarely find like two. I'll get one, not two though. So I know that they're rare, but they're not exactly easy to find. So we do have an olive and a spiny jewel box trying to admire its spines. The spinier the better. Yeah, that's relatively spiny. That'll do. So big old olive, spiny jewel box. So across the way there, that's Key Waden proper or that's the island of Key Waden. This here is a sandbar and you can kind of get between the two at very, very, very low tide right now. I think it, I don't know that it's really true. You can really get back and forth. I'm with a boat. I'm going to take a boat back over to Key Waden soon. Once I kind of make sure, or me and my other people on the boat. Oh, that looks like it could have been an albino, right? But I think, yeah, it's just kind of a bleached out shell. Big fan of albinos. Now what all have I found here on Key Waden? Well, I went digging through the archives and check out this haul. So this was April of 2021. Yeah, that's impressive. That sea fans, the sand dollars. No, it's interesting. I think my collecting has gotten different. So here I see the horse conchs and the alphabet cones are in the middle. In that last shot, the alphabet cones are kind of up and around. I mean, there were so many different things. I tend to kind of put my favorites in the center now. Oh, look, a golden olive. Yeah. So Key Waden has been great to me over the years. Now I'm trying to make my way back to the boat, but look at this giant Atlantic cockle with its siphons. So one of them is an intake. The other one is an outtake and it filter feeds. So I guess, I don't know, the siphonal tentacles that we kind of see there, those are probably more to detect. Oh, look at that. That appears to be the outtake, that second one there. Blurp. So I think the tentacles are really to protect it if something's going to try to eat it. Kind of gives it a little bit of a heads up. All right. At this point, we are going to leave the sandbar and we are going to head over to Key Waden. So there were a bunch of other people here. Do not let that bother you. I don't let it bother me. I have no idea what kind of skill level these other people are. I don't know what they're looking for. So as you can see, there's plenty of seashells to go around. Now, as I mentioned in the beginning of the video, I have been doing this for a little while, so I'm a little pickier than a new sheller. So I like to really find specimen quality things or something like this. I just might hang on to because I'll tell myself I'm going to make something one day. So I do have a smallish box. It's only one smallish box. I kind of put some things to the side and tell myself I will make something. Oh, a Centura Hunteria. Fantastic. So Banded Tulip and a lovely Rough Scallop. Okay, so we can see the tide is really moving quickly. So the tide is coming in. We knew that and it is ripping. Okay, we knew that. Sorry, I know there's nothing on that sandbar, so we're just going to kind of stick to the shallow water. Okay, another Banded Tulip. Delightful. Yeah, that's spectacular. I like that they're kind of like glossy looking. Anything else here? Oh, I see a Lightning Whelk. Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm probably going to pass on that one. And then check out that little pile. Yep, those are shells there. Lots of Ponderous Arks. Probably some of those Crossbarred Venus Clams. A little Coquina. Oh, sure, we'll hold on to that lovely little lovely little seashell. All right, let's see what else. Now for me, I have to admit it's not that it's like cheating because I love Fighting Conch, so that's one of my favorite shells and they're not very uncommon. So I can pretty much go to any beach and I'll be happy. I mean, some days I'll be happier than other days, but I'm always happy at the beach. Now that is a lovely Applemyrax or Phyllonotus palmum. Another Fighting Conch. You know, I do have to, I've really got to stop picking up those Fighting Conchs. The little ones, I need the bigger ones, not the little ones so much. So that is a Calico Clam. It's a little older, not quite as pristine, but I like this side with all the colors. So it's a Calico Clam. Here's another Bivalve. A Broad-ribbed Cardida. Very hardy little shell. It's about as big as I get, about yo big. Now, this Fighting Conch is really cool, but what I want to talk about is this Encrusting Bryozoan. So there, it's also called Sea Lace. And so it's like a little blanket of critters. And these guys are tiny, teeny, teeny, tiny. And when they die, that's what's left behind. So a little bit of that lace. So we have a Fighting Conch with some of that lovely Sea Lace. Oh, a little Olive. Oh, it's so cute. So that's just a Olive that never matured. It didn't make it. Oh, nice Augur. Yeah, I know. I was thinking the same thing. Am I going to grab that? Oh, look, Two-Fur. All right, yep. Just making extra sure there's no Hermit Crabs or anybody in there. So we have a little, little Olive, two Augurs, and Operculum. I'm pretty sure that's going to be the Operculum of a Banded Tulip. It's so small. Yeah, I mean, it could be a Horse Conch too, but I suspect it's a Banded Tulip. Oh, that is beautiful. Look how bright. Nice Stromboid. See, told you. I'll try not to show you Fighting Conchs the entire video. That one's actually not going to cut the mustard. Nope, the knobs are a little bit too rounded down. I recently went through my shell collection. The shells I used to collect. Now this is like a pristine Sand... Well, actually, it's not a pristine Sand Dog. It kind of looks like it. Look at the keyholes. One of them is a little bit bigger than it's supposed to be. Yeah, that one. And the other one's a little bit smaller than it's supposed to be. Oh, that's weird. I love it. So we have a little bit of a Weirdo's Sand Dollar. Now, okay, so Pen Shell. Pen Shell has that Nacre or the Mother of Pearl. And look at the Tunicate. So we likely have both Sea Pork and Sea Liver. And it's like, um, it feels like a, like a hard eraser almost. So there's like a little bit of give to it, but it's not like spongy. It's really pretty dense. And it filter feeds. It's a Tunicate that would live way out in the ocean. Well, maybe not way out in the ocean. Out in the ocean, it filter feeds. Pieces break off. They wash up onto the beach. Look at this. Lettered Olive. There's something funny kind of... No, it doesn't look like a repair. I don't know, something happened. That's a cool Lettered Olive. Oh, hello, Calico Scallop. Very nice. You know, when I'm out looking for shells, I realize that my brain is actually happiest just being in the search. It's that, maybe this next step feeling where everything starts to quiet down and there's this gentle flow. Now, when that pursuit is paired with gratitude, I don't know how to express how I feel, but it's glorious. I'm not chasing happiness. I'm noticing it. And the more I practice, I can find joy all around me. So this little rock, I did used to think that only water could bore holes in things like rock, but I was wrong. Things like critters can bore holes. Yeah. So there's a little piece of water and they're doing like a refracting kind of thing. Oh, that's kind of cool. So that is called a Hagstone. And there are critters, kind of like Piddex. They will bore into wood. And then there's other critters that will bore into like coral and into stone, rock. It's, it's really pretty crazy. This is a turkey wing or a zigzag arc. You decide what you'd like to call it. Big fan of these. I like the straight edge of the, um, the hinge. I think that's kind of fun. Oh, here's our Florida state shell, the horse conch. And it's empty, which is kind of a bonus. And a calico scallop. Yeah. Well, that's just lovely. Oh, okay. Sea glass. Yeah. That's actually cooked. Most of the glass I find is garbage. I just recycle it, but that is actually cooked. It's all kind of rounded. It does appear as if that would be frosted once it actually dries off. All right. Little piece of sea glass. And while I ponder how long it might actually take to make a piece of sea glass, I'm going to be quiet and let you all have some beach time. All right. I had been spending a lot of time in the water. I did peek at the, um, upper rack line and there just wasn't really a lot to hold my attention. So I didn't spend a whole lot of time up there, back to the water. I mean, I will, I'll try to kind of peek up there. Once in a while, I find something good. Now this little weird thing, someone had sent me a picture of something just like that. And the picture I was, I was like, is that a kitten paw? I mean, that's what that mark, those little weird markings are. Typically they have more finger or like paw kind of things. That's really more what a kitten paw should look like. But yeah, sometimes I guess they're just doing their own thing. Fun little kitten paw, or sometimes it can look like that. It can be buried and be very dark, but that is still a kitten paw. Now this is a Quahog, not a Quahog, like I used to call it, a Quahog. Now on the inside of the Quahog, you'll see some indentations. What are they for? Well, I'm going to tell you, those two are muscle scars. And then this other line down here, that's going to be the paleo line. So that's where the creature lives within that shell. So a lot of times with these seashells, you can kind of look and there's evidence of what was going on. So you can see those two little muscle scar areas, and then you see the indentation, that paleo line. So that's where the animal lived inside the shell. It kind of makes those marks and indentations in the shell. So yeah, pretty cool. There's other fun things with these shells, other than just being really pretty and colorful, maybe having a pretty like, what's this, the shape of it. So this is a cut ribbed arc, and there's just something kind of elegant about them, like the turkey wing. This is another arc that I kind of like, the cut ribbed arc. Jingles, so that white thing, muscle scar, that's what makes that little mark on it. All right, this is an apple murrex, or phylaenotus pummel. Oh, see, now this is a Florida prickly cockle, and it's kind of muted, and that makes me think that the inside is going to be muted too. So yeah, just one of those funny things that kind of entertains me. Oh, a mossy arc. So this is also an arc, but it's mossy. Not really, but it does have a straight hinge like some of our arcs. Yeah, so that is cool. I call it like the weird cousin of the turkey wing, the mossy arc. Giant Atlantic cockle, lovely. That's a little beach bowl. That's a little closer to maybe a quarter cup, but yeah, giant Atlantic cockle, and a worm snail. I do like those. I think they look kind of fun, like when you put the collection together. I like a good worm snail, just kind of like mix up. I just, because we have bivalves, we have gastropods, we have worm snails, we have urchins and sand dollars, and I just like them all together. I just think that they look great. All right, what's the next? All right, this is a spiny jewel box. It's not terribly spiny, but it does have a little bit of that juvenile pink color. So that's what that is. I used to think the finding a hinge spiny jewel box was pretty dang cool, and it is. It's just not as rare as I used to think it was. See, a couple more of my friends have arrived here. Oh, look at, oh, that is really pretty calico scallop. Beautiful. Yeah, oh, that just tickles me. Yeah. Okay, now this is a thick lucine. Yeah, it's not terribly attractive. It's not my favorite seashell, I will tell you that. And it looks just like a Pennsylvania lucine, but it's kind of got like bumpies on the inside. See, it's more of a thick shell. Yeah, yeah, that is a thick lucine. Oh, a lace murix. Oh, that's exciting. And that too, also the juvenile pink. So the proto conch up on the very top of the shell. Yep, that is a lace murix. Another beautiful calico scallop. Some of them are just prettier than others. I mean, like a majority of them, I have that they're purple and white, but some of them are just a little bit prettier. Lovely. Oh, no. Well, we have, yeah, that's some banded tulip egg casing on here. So mommy tries to attach that, and I guess it doesn't always stay attached. And there's little, those little, yeah, those little dark things in there. Those are little baby snails. So yeah, well, hopefully it can stay hydrated, and the temperature will be right. I don't know. Yeah, it happens. It is that time of year. So I'll try to stick it in the water, and good luck. Good luck, little snails. I hope you can incubate. Oh, there's another little horse conch. Lovely. And make sure it's empty. No Hermes in there. Awesome. Yeah, that's great. All right, another one. Another calico clam. This one's a little more pristine than that other one I picked up. Yeah, if the one side doesn't tell the story, sometimes the other one does, but that is a calico clam. All right, my tour is kind of winding down. At this point, I probably will just be picking up little shells or see what I can find here at the end of the island. 62. We know the tide's coming in. We already knew that, but it's warmed up quite nicely. So this was recorded at the very beginning of January. Now back in 2023, look at this. So that's February 2023. Wow. That looks like a fun day. All those cones, all the lightning welks, the apple myricks, the horse conchs on the bottom. Oh, that was fun. Now, okay, look at this. Now this is September 2023. So big difference. So that was seven months later. Very, very different. Looks very, very, still a couple of cones, which for September is pretty dang good. Now here we have another one. So this is February from 2024. Again, a couple of cones, lots of lightning welks, and all the angel wings. So I guess it was an angel wing kind of day. And that's why I just keep coming back to Key Wade and I never know what's going to show up. And honestly, if every time I came here was epic, that would start to get boring. I like hunts. I like the hunt. And that is a lovely calico scallop. So I'm glad that I have some more sparse days. Yep. My sand spit out there, that little sandbar, totally gone. We knew that the tide's coming in. Oh, the Hemingway water shuttle. I did not come with Hemingway. Today I came with SWFL Shell Guide. Now Allie has guided and unguided tours. I typically pop on the unguided tour, but that's not to say that I wouldn't be with her at some point on the guided tour. So if you want someone who is going to bring you where she thinks the shells are going to be, I highly recommend SWFL Shell Guide. Now we're getting kind of to that point. Oh, look. All right. Missed it. I'm chasing it. What do we got? Oh, a little horse. Yeah, it's very bright because it's very alive. So I'm not going to be able to hold on to that. But what else did I see? Well, look at that. 30% of a rose myrix. It's all obviously it's all busted up. You know what, though? It's still a rose. I'm going to hold on to it. I don't know why. I'm just going to throw it with that other, you know, container of shells that allegedly I'll do something with one day. Oh, another little horse conch. Great. Just I seriously have way too many of those. Is there such a thing? Yeah, probably not. Right. A little spiny jewel box. Yeah. All right. I can collect you. You're not really that spiny, but you're fun. You're a fun little fun little bivalve. And then this is that shell pile. And honestly, I mean, yeah, let's take a good look. Yeah. Older oysters, broken cockles, kind of picked over. I still think that like in an emergency, I would plot myself there and go through it. But that's not the kind of day I had. It was a little chilly. It did start out kind of cold. I was happy to have my as you can see some of my other friends on the boat. We had our coats and hats and whatnot. But it was another lovely day to be on Cuaydin. I would probably categorize this as a more of a slower day. But I do want to let you know, if you make it to Cuaydin, you might be able to get some snacks from the Manatee Munchies boat. Yep. Yep. Even there's actually I think there's a cheeseburger boat that comes along to or maybe they have cheeseburgers. I don't know. Now, as far as garbage, there was a little bit of tin, a little bit of glass. I was happy to not see the plastic overall. I took one point eight five ounces today, but in total, I've removed a little over eighty five pounds of garbage from our beaches. Yep. I definitely would not categorize this as a crazy killer day. So there were a couple of fighting conchs. Yay. I like them. So that does make me happy. All right. There's some worm snails, some augers, lightning walk sand dollar, olive calico clams, the turkey wings, some calico scallops. There were a couple of banded tulips, some horse conchs, the kitten paws, including that flat weird one, some spiny jewel boxes, jingles, broad ribbed cardidas. There was a spiny slipper in there. There's a mossy arc. There's a coquina, some apple myricks, Florida prickly cockles, cut ribbed arc, giant Atlantic cockles, some broken rough scallops on the top there. And then these are the ones that I decided that I like the best, that little olive, the rose myricks, the lace myricks, the limpet and that little piece of sea glass. I just popped in there so you could see it. So, yeah, like I said, probably not the craziest day I've been there, but I'm going to keep coming back because there's been some really remarkable finds there like that albino fighting conch. That was pretty killer. Always get some good cones there. Patreons, none of this would be possible without you, so thank you so very much for choosing to support me. I mean it. I couldn't and wouldn't do this without you, so thank you so much for your support. Next week we're going to Fort Myers Beach. It was a little bit of an invasion of the coolest kind, so that's going to be next week. Until then, I hope you have yourself a wonderful week and I'll see you again next Sunday.