Shelling Lovers Key brought great shells...and a surprise dolphin!

Hello beach friends. I love the thought that no matter how many years we've been on this earth, there are still wonderful things waiting for us that we don't even know about yet. Experiences we haven't had, places we haven't seen, and moments that will someday become some of our favorite. Memories. Now today I'm back at Lovers Key State Park where I recently led a guided shelling walk. Yes, you can hire me to tag along with you at the beach. And one of my guests found three absolutely incredible seashells, one of which I don't even have. And if that wasn't enough to make me come back and hunt again, another viewer had been telling me about the fabulous shells she's been finding here too. Now I do see Decent rack line. There's going to be plenty of stuff for us to go through there. I typically like shelling in the water. Unfortunately today, it doesn't look like the shells are going to cooperate. They're not going to be in the water. They're going to be up on the beach, and that's fine. Let's slow down a minute. See what's a smattering of this and that. Okay, there is a coquina. Now fantastic. Now I do know perfectly well that just because a beach was generous one day it does not mean it's going to be generous the next but it's one of the reasons that I bounce around so much and it was certainly worth another look. Look at this beautiful calico scallop. I happen to like plain white shells. White is my second favorite color. Oh the lady in waiting Venus clam. I like those too. Yep here's two of them. Very pretty. What else we got? All right. And that's brilliant. That's a catch and release calico scallop. That was a calico clam. Yep. Calico clam. Very nice. Okay. One's got like that white base. One's got a brown base. All right. Great. There's definitely going to be things for us to go through. And just because the first time I crouched down doesn't mean I find a genuina. It doesn't mean it's not going to be a great day. That is a Donax leucine. Now what's funny about today is one of the things that made this day so memorable really didn't have anything to do with the shells that I brought home. But not to worry there was plenty of shells and there's a couple of critters that we're gonna get to say hi to as well. So if you're ready to see what all is out there for us today let's go to the beach. I'm probably gonna go home with a couple of A couple of white scallops. Whoa! Fascinating. So this is a giant bittersweet and this is not a shell I would expect to find over here in Southwest, Florida. This is more of a Florida East Coast shell. Does the coast matter? As a matter of fact, it does. There are shells you can find over there and not here and vice versa, but every now and then a species will pop up on either coast. Now the painted egg cockles, they started showing up here after dredging. Because of Hurricane Ian. So this beach was dredged meaning they pumped in sand and it pumped in a lot of different species Now the painted egg cockles have been showing up not so much those Giant bittersweets. So again, that is weird Now this for whatever reason was screaming to me that that is a pearl oyster It doesn't look a thing like pearl oyster, but that yellow color and the shape kind of sorta and I'm going to show you one Another one in a little bit and we'll you'll see that yellow part. All right there's a chestnut turban. It's got some calcareous tube worm stuff on there. That kind of like white chunky stuff. Whoa another Giant bittersweet. That is weird. You know, Lover's Key of all of the other than maybe Captiva, for whatever reason, Lover's Key and Captiva are the only beaches in southwest Florida that I can think of where I can kind of on a regular basis find shells that I would normally find on the east coast. Just I don't know why. Why those two beaches? Oh, hello. Adorable little kitten's paw or kitten paw that you can find pretty much on on all the beaches. Now this Ooh, that is a purplish semelie. I do not find them often. I mean, like once every six months. So that's pretty dang exciting. A purplish semelie. Now a shell with similar coloring, but it's a scallop. It's totally different. So that's a calico scallop, as is that. Yeah, big fan. Just plain white. I think they're beautiful. So two calico scallops. So is this one. This is also a... calico scallop. All right, there's a little bit of that tube worm stuff on there, too. Huh, all right. Beautiful shell. Beautiful. All right, a juvenile fighting conch. I'm going to call that like a rather run-of-the-mill. Yeah, nothing wrong with it. Very nice fighting conch. Alright, more scallops. It's going to be a good scallop day, or at least at this point, more bivalves than gastropods. Oh, another bivalve. So this is a Mexican talon, along with the painted egg cockles. They've been showing up since dredging, and I do not find them at any other beach on the west coast of Florida, other than Lover's Key, the Mexican talon. Oh, that's really pretty. Again, calico scallops. And another giant bittersweet. Weird. Weird. I mean, one is one thing, but like to find a couple of them, really strange. So giant bittersweet and a couple of calico scallops. Very lovely auger. And another Mexican talon. Yeah. So fun. I guess it's one of those things like I do pick up a lot of them. Like I'm not done with the Mexican talons by any means or the augers, but I pick up just about every one I see. A scotch. with a lot of air conditioning. Oh, so this is again, East coast of Florida shell. This should not be here. I have found them before at Lover's Key, which is just weird. Why this beach? I don't know, but it is, it does act a little different than some of the other beaches, at least currently another, that is a really pretty painted egg cockle. It's kind of got the brown base color versus that lighter color. Very pretty. Yes, they do. If you find them in good condition, they will have a shine to them. Lots of kitten paws. All right, another calico scallop. Yeah, it's funny because some of the stuff kind of looks older, like older as in like it's been sitting in the water for a long time. A lot of those, the kitten paws, they look crusty. I don't know how else to explain it. They just don't look fresh. Oh, we got a plenty of shells to go through. Oh, fantastic. All right, another with calcareous tube worm stuff on it. Another very pretty calico scallop. Gorgeous coloring. All right, another giant bittersweet. And what's fun with the giant bittersweets is they're in really good condition. And Mexican talon with its fun wrinkle on the left there. So, it's funny because, again, I typically find them on the other coast, the giant bittersweets, but they're usually a little bit beat up. Oh, very nice. Very, very nice. Yeah, just peek down here. So, I always try to come at low tide. So, I'm trying to time my walk where I'm here before low tide, a shell a little bit before, during, and then a little after low tide. That's perhaps, like, the nicest giant bittersweet I've ever found. Gosh. Totally unexpected. Really cool. Really, really cool. All right, fighting conch. You can pretty much find them anywhere on the West Coast, although they don't show up every day, I'll tell you that. All right, empty. I love the color. It's got a nice, strong, stromboid notch. Very nice. So this is also a pearl oyster, that weird like yellow thing I picked up earlier. And when I pick this up, I'm like, that's why I thought the other one was a pearl oyster because I've found them like deteriorating. And sure enough, it's almost like a yellow color that the mollusk kind of coats with that mother of pearl. All right, a jingle, fantastic jingle at that. Ha ha ha ha! All right, yeah, I know the bittersweet's there. Let's see what else is here. All right, the scallop and then, Another giant bittersweet. That is awesome. Oh, and the reason they're called bittersweet is because that it actually tastes Bittersweet so somebody named that's what they named it a bittersweet clam Here's some more calico scallops, a broken catch and release. I'm gonna say probably really pretty coloring And then we'll switch it out for this one there or maybe not. All right, that didn't pass the test that one Yes, that one definitely. Yep. Wait another Lucine We have a Donax lucine, some fun white and a little orange, and another giant bittersweet. It clearly, it's giant bittersweet day here at Lover's Key. Oh no, that's not a giant bittersweet. That is a comb bittersweet. So those, yeah, those, sometimes they'll show up. Fun. So another bittersweet. Would you look at that? You know what? And soon as I picked that up, I was like, you know, I have a Genonia, it's not a great piece, but I'm gonna pop that into one of my shell boxes that I sell. So I do sell seashells over on Etsy. I'm gonna pop that piece into, so someone's getting a bonus little chunk of genonia at some point. So this is an egg cockle with tons of that calcareous tube worm stuff in there. Just wanted to compare it to the painted egg cockle. Almost identical shape. It's really just the size and the coloring that you're going to. The painted egg cockles don't get very big. A rough scallop. You can see the actual texture of the shell. That's where it gets its name because it is rough. And I guess the prickly cockles, they have one name. Rough Scallop has another. All right, there is another kind of weird-shaped kitten paw. Oh, that one's different. Yeah, they should have called it the... That looks like a skeleton. They should have called it the variable kitten paw, but it's just the kitten paw. Now there's another pearl oyster. And a painted egg cockle, since I'm here, right? Pearl oyster. Now we'll notice on the reverse side it's got more that calcareous tube worm stuff and because it's on the inside it means that that shell was hanging out at moderate depths at some point and then eventually kind of washed up onto the beach. So it's hard to say. You can really kind of tell the freshly deceased shells. They're in really good condition. That giant Atlantic cockle, lovely. Lovely. And that's why a lot of collectors, I've mentioned this before, they tend to like to live collect because they, they're murderers. No, not really. That's a Mexican talon because the shells would be in better condition. It's just not how I roll. A lot of, frankly, I don't know anybody who loves shells. I probably would shame them. Or if somebody did, they probably wouldn't tell me. So anyway, we have here two Mexican talons. Another kitten paw. Now sometimes with the kitten paws they're kind of like sealed shut. Now if me personally if I can open it yay I know that it's fine. So that one I was able to open and I try to encourage people like if you can't open it you don't really know if it's viable or what. So I leave the ones that I can't open. Whoa another Genonia shard. Well, that one's in pretty good shape. I don't know. Maybe I'll... I don't know. I haven't decided what I'll do with that piece. If I'm going to pop that into a shell box, too. Lovely. Another giant bittersweet. And again, in really good condition. Okay, not giving up on the painted egg cockles yet. Cool. All right. Calico clam. Oh, that one's kind of pretty. It's got like a white base. Yeah, it's not bleached out. That's just sometimes they're like that. Sometimes they be like that. Painted egg cockle and calico clam. Nice auger. Oh, it's got some. Yeah, it had to repair itself. Crooked. Yeah. Interesting, right? Yeah. So when the shells break, if the mollusk can survive it, they can repair their shell. Pennsylvania lucine, along with another calico scallop. Lovely. This. So this is the other valve of a zigzag flat. So if you were to find a flat scallop, very desirable, and you were to find the other valve, it would look like that. Very cool. Here's another good look at that Pennsylvania lucine with its fun little wrinkle and a drill hole. And then we do have that other calico scallop, but the flat, that super duper cool, pretty rare, not unheard of rare, but pretty rare. Another semelie. Well, it's not as gorgeous as that first one, but still fun. Now, fun fact about the semelies, they come in another color. They can be purple or they can be orange like this. Now, again, because of that calcareous tube worm stuff. I think this was probably hanging out in the water and then eventually kind of made its way up onto the beach. So we do have two more purplish semilies, one purplish one and one with that orange color. Cool, very cool. Yeah, another weird shell that I find either here, Captiva, or the east coast. That is a red-brown ark. So somewhat rare on the West Coast. All right, calico scallop. Yeah, that's got a bunch of stuff on it. I wanted to check out these other things. I do see that gorgeous, almost pristine, rough scallop. I mean, that shell is in fantastic shape. Really beautiful. Yeah, that's another little seashell on the backside. Doesn't even have beach stuff on it. So it's likely recently deceased. Another giant bittersweet. Another piece of Genonia. Maybe by the end of the video, I'll be able to build a whole Genonia with the pieces I'm finding. Yeah, it's such a cool shell that even pieces should be kept. Go figure. All right, this is also a Lucine, but this is not a dociina Lucine. This is a cross-hatched Lucine. On this one, we can clearly see those cross-hatched marks. Fun. Thin-fingered coral. This is a fantastic example of it. Now, the deal with coral is it is, you're not supposed to, you're not supposed to remove it from the beach. That, that kind, it's called stony coral and it is prohibited. I went through this whole thing with FWC, so I don't keep it anymore. I do leave it on the beach. Look at this and I was rewarded by leaving that. I'm going to get another Genonia piece. So I really do think by the end of the video, I'll be able to build one. All right, auger with a tiny little break. Oh, still really I mean, I'd call it a common auger, but lovely. Now this I liked, I loved the purple or that pink. It kind of is coming through the shell. So that is a lady-in-waiting Venus clam, a juvenile. And you know, to be fair, some of the juveniles really are just beautiful. I thought that was really, really pretty. This frond oyster, it's not broken. I thought it might've been, but nope. It's just shaped a little weird. So that would attach itself to like a sea fan or something like that. So I was noticing the footprints and I'm like, okay, it's consistent. So the person was walking at the same gait. They're not facing toward the rack line. So I don't have to worry that someone has already been here and picked up my shells. So the detective in me managed to kind of work that out. Some more bittersweets. I still can't believe they're here. So I'm going to record every single one I pick up. All right. There's a broad rib cardita. Fun shell, rather common, but still kind of cool. A broad-ribbed Cardita. Another auger, although the top on that one's kind of missing. Oh, oh, it's broken, but really cool. So this is a little dove strawberry cockle. Again, typically find it on the other coast, and it's broken. I do have a couple. I was finding them in the Bahamas, too, but, you know. All right, again, weird Lover's Key for the weird shells, or at least shells that I wouldn't expect to be on this coast. Now it was about this time I noticed that the weather, it changed on me and I'm going to need to change my plans because I'm not going to have as much time here as I originally thought. Sure, to the north it looks fine, but yeah, there's some weather brewing to the south. When I left my house, it was not going to be there when I've been checking the weather all week when I planned to come here. No, it's supposed to be fine, but... It's Florida and that's the way it goes sometimes. At least I have somewhat of a warning. It's not like I'm getting chased off the beach like I did in Marco that other time. Another piece of coquina that I'm going to file into a little pendant or something. Yeah. I'm going to hold on to that. Just put that to the side somewhere. All right. Little coquina. Beautiful. Oh, yeah, lots of, you know, that tube worm stuff is kind of annoying. Like, it doesn't just come off of bleach. You kind of gotta, like, all right, come on, camera. Wow, the light. The light has changed. It was sunny, and now not so much, but that tube worm stuff, very aggressive. Really hard to get that stuff off of shells. All right, we have an olive. It's not perfect, so that I can, I can part with. This dang weather. Okay, sorry, I'm not hearing thunder or, you know, there's no No lightning yet, so I got... I got maybe an hour or so. So we'll see what else I can find in the next hour. Now this, I want to call it a lettered olive, but I really don't think it is. I kind of think it's a fulgurator. Yeah, I have, I used to pretty much call everything that wasn't a brown olive a fulgurator, but that's not necessarily the case. And there's the netted olives. It's like a whole thing with the olives, but I was pretty sure that that's not a lettered. It's possible it is. It's not, I don't know. All right, another Mexican talon and an auger and a Mexican talon. And an olive. Mmm. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. This dusky cone. So this is an albinistic dusky cone. It's almost white. Like it doesn't even, I can't even record it. Like you can't really see it. There's no color on it. Beautiful. Well, there's a little tiny bit, which is why I'm calling it albinistic. All right, a little piece of alphabet cone and another dusky cone. See, that's more normal. That's kind of the coloring I would expect to find on it. Not that you got to see it for more than two seconds. I'll show it to you again. Beautiful coquina. So that dusky cone, a little bit of brown on it, the auger, and then that coquina. Now I do like the way it looks to the north a little bit more than I like the way it looks to the south. So at this point, I want to be quiet and let you enjoy some beach time. All right. Is it just a piece or is it the whole thing I'm really hoping that it... Oh, it's just a piece, what are you gonna do? So it's a piece of a flat. So had that been the whole shell, that would have been very exciting and I would have put it together with that other valve and show you how those go together. But all right, just a piece, still fun though. Even the pieces can be fun. Wow, that's gorgeous. I love that pattern on the calico scallops. Like that sunburst. Oh, there's like five. Oh, beautiful. Very pretty. Crown conch, I love these. You know, I just, as time goes on and as I go to learn, normally I would put it on my hand and let it walk around because I want to see it. I just am not convinced that that's necessarily great for the critter. So while I still may do that, I'm not going to do it every time I see one of the critters. Keep my eye on that weather. Yeah, I am definitely team critter, team shells and team critters Oh, speaking of critters, here we have a giant red hermit crab. Very docile, just hanging out in this lightning well, but he does have company because there are a couple of slipper snails on that shell. So yeah, we're looking at a giant red hermit crab. It is the largest marine hermit crab species in the Western Atlantic Ocean. Gorgeous. You could find those in like the Queen conchs. Like they're just, they can get really, really big. They're super cool. Now that is a piece of a fulgurator olive. Absolutely. I had found one here at Lover's Key. Strange. So I know that that's not a lettered olive, which is why I'm kind of hesitant with those other olives. All right. A beat up chestnut turban. I think I could probably let that go. All right. So we're going to be heading. So in this section of the beach, littles, worm snails, crown conchs, rose petal talons. But before I go over there, I just wanted to take a peek at this railroad vine. Oh it's so pretty. Got to see a lot of this over at Honeymoon State Park as well. Now Railroad Vine is fun because it'll grow toward the water and then get far enough and turn around. So we can kind of see that right there in that particular vine. Now I thought for here that I would try the upper rack line which I do not normally check. I was hoping for oh look check this osprey. He's He's going to shake off mid-flight. As I was saying, I was hoping for some, um, knicker nuts, but there, there really wasn't much in that rack line. So I kind of was able to get over, over here pretty quickly. We do have an ibis there, but you know what I don't have is I saw none, no crown conchs, but there were a couple of rose petal talons. So I just picked, you know, picked up a couple of them. We're not going to spend too, too much time. They, they either come in pink or white. I personally like the uh the pink ones but that doesn't mean I'm not going to pick up the white ones too so they're here I'm probably gonna yep yeah there's that's what I'm looking they're easier to find the pink ones they kind of stand out versus the white color but yeah all right so and quick I was in and that worked out okay all right I found a really bright all right now it's piece of a lightning whelk very intense color on that rose petal talon really really pretty All right, so I made, I was rather quick in this part of the island just as well. There's not a whole lot here. I gotta scoot with the weather anyway. But I just want to slow down and show you these. Aren't these fun? So these are little clams that burrow into wood. I mean, there's worms that do it, there's... I had no idea, I really didn't. So anyway, these critters, they are deceased at this point, but, and you can still see the shells, so they're just stuck in the wood and that's how they do. They dig a hole, they live in there, they filter feed, so at some point this was underwater and those animals were alive and filter feeding and doing their thing, but now we get to see the remnants and the holes that they used to create. I was really hoping to go out there. There's a little sandbar out there. But yeah, thunderstorms are likely going to start around 10:45 and it's 10:13 right now. So I'm just going to kind of concentrate on getting off the beach. And another. So that is the zigzag flat other valve. I'm going to get that slime off of it. I'm not worried. Really exciting to find those at all. But to find two in one day is actually really, really cool. Beep! Thanks, Lover's Key, that is awesome. Yep, terrific. All right, two more pointy shells. We have another, this is probably the best auger of the day. And then we also have a dark serif, beautiful. We can really see the siphonal canal on that dark serif. Maybe we'll talk about that in the future. So I was, I was. I'm ready to get off the beach. I do have like a fear of lightning and getting hit by cars. I have a couple of weird things, but I had to pause and hang out with this dolphin for just a couple of minutes. Now we, there's a lot going on. There's only one dolphin and we're seeing the pectoral fins or flippers, the tail and the dorsal fins. So that's why at one point it looked like it might've been more than one dolphin, but it's only one. And at some point it's kind of going on its It sighed. So it's, you can see it's white belly there and it's, it's hunting. That is what it is doing. We, I know that it is a male because the males will be off by it's, see that fish? So yep, there's fish there and it's hunting. The males will be by themselves or in pairs where the females will be in a pod. And we have bottlenose dolphins down here. Wow. We practically made eye contact It's haunting. I was fascinated. It was really close. I was in the water. I want to say I was probably up to about my knee. And I could have gotten closer, but I don't like to interfere with natural behaviors. All right, so it's going to try to, yeah, so dolphins do this thing, this, the water's too shallow, but it tries to like stun fish. It'll take its tail and either slap or it'll just kind of like swash it through the water and it stuns the fish. Now keep your eye kind of, well, the dolphin's there on the left. See that fish there on the left? I don't know what happened, but it was able to like stun that fish. So the fish is kind of struggling and you know what? Yep, now Now it's breakfast. It got what it was hunting. Oh, right in front of me too. Oh, that was so cool that it was just, it was right there. And I think that these experiences happen just as a matter of chance. You know, the more you come out, the more I'm out in nature, the more I'm going to have an opportunity to interact with nature and have things like that happen. Not interact with nature, but get to view it up close. Oh, that was wild. I love those experiences. The octopus, the dolphin, the manatees, just the critters in general. I just love it. Lover's Key was great. And it's a good thing I got off the beach because there was some pretty hairy weather coming right up behind me. So Lover's Key was quite clean. I did not take any garbage off the beach, but I did take a couple of other things. So we did have some chestnut turbans, a couple of giant bittersweets. I think I literally recorded every single one. We did have some calico clams, some fighting conchs, a couple of Mexican talons, genonia pieces, pearl oyster. There was some dark seraphs, some augers, lucines. We had some rose petal talons, lady and waiting venus clams. There's some worm snails there. Yep, did I miss anything? No, I didn't. All right, there is painted egg cockles, some dusky cones, rough scallops, olives, olives, kitten paws, frond oysters, red brown ark, cardita. There is a Florida prickly cockle, giant Atlantic cockle, cut ribbed ark, and a Comb Bittersweet, we have some Jingles, we have a whole bunch of, there's a lot of white ones too, the Calico Scallops, oh, there's some Spiny Jewel Box, some Coquinas, and then I've decided my favorite shells were these. That Rough Scallop, those two Zig Zags, the Semelees, the Scotch Bonnet, that particular Painted Egg Cockle, and that particular A Lady in Waiting Venus Clam. So that and the dolphin, we can't forget about the dolphin. What a great day. I came kind of hoping for some really fantastic shells just because of the other experience. I got to watch some other people find some great shells, which I did. But that dolphin, I tell you what, it was just something I didn't expect to see. And moments like that remind me of just how lucky I am to get out there and share these adventures with you. And a huge part of what makes it possible is the support. I get from my Patreons, so thank you so much for keeping this channel going and I hope you know just how much I appreciate you. Next week we're headed to the 10,000 islands. At the time of this recording I have not actually gone out there and done the shelling yet. I can only assume it's going to be awesome. So I hope you have a great week and I'll see you again next Sunday.