u/fishybelow

The first picture is my shell collection prior to returning a lot to the original place I found them. Second is my current collection. All of my shells are from the southwest coast of Florida aside from 2 random cowries which I did not find myself. The second picture is my current collection! I couldn’t identify everything - especially scallops but I looove calico scallops!

My best finds are from Pass-a-Grille, Honeymoon Island, LIDO KEY (my fav), and of course Sanibel (mostly calico scallops for me).

The last two pictures are my attempts at identifying some of my shells. Please chime in for corrections or additions I am an amateur. 😜

I know collecting can be a bit controversial, so no judgement to any other collectors, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had gone overboard and it was time to give back to the beautiful beaches I am so privileged to enjoy! I still have sooo many and I always snap photos of my finds because the real fun for me is in the scavenging and collecting. Just wanted to share since I have no shelling friends in real life. 🫶🫶

I went to PAG today around low tide and found so so many shells. I returned most but kept a few tinies. So many Apple murex and huge shiny jewel boxes. I’ve forced myself to stop bringing home shells and this is my first time in months taking some home!!!

I looked for shells away from the water mostly. Just in the huge shell piles a few feet from the shore. A lot of egg casings seemed to have dried out around the shell areas so I theorize that’s why all the baby shells were everywhere.

Had great luck this morning at Lido Key beach in Florida, which is close to Siesta Key. The beach was covered with fighting conchs, lettered olives, calico scallops, lightning whelks, etc. I’ve never found this many at once! First pic is what I kept and the last is the majority of what I found. Yesterday we didn’t see much but today we got lucky I guess.