Atlantic Auger - What's Inside the Shell

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Yesterday, I went to the beach and picked up shells, including some Augers I found, and left them setting overnight in fresh water. Today, while cleaning them I found two with residents in them. I'd rather that hadn't happened, but they were laying away from the water on the beach.

Terri at si.northcarolina.edu wrote:
The auger shells have hermit crabs in them, and they're not the original occupants. They moved in after the auger (which is a snail-like animal) died and left the shell behind.
Terri K. Hathaway
Marine Education Specialist
North Carolina Sea Grant
http://www.ncseagrant.org/

I've reduced the size of the pictures to thumbnails, and by clicking on the image a new window will open and you can see image enlarged to 500 pixels.

Here's one of the close up shots, where you can see its little eyes.


Another closeup of the Auger, click on image for 500 px image

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The part of the creature's soft tissue is exposed which it normally uses to move itself around, like an arm. However, when it senses potential predators are around, it withdraws within its shell and closes.
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Interesting... this little guy has claws on its front appendages, *smile* though from the top, he reminds me of a tiny squid.
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Atlantic Calico Scallop

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This particular shell (the larger of the two) appears it may be classed among Pectens and Scallops.

A shell, quite similar in coloration and shape (Ornate Scallop Chlamys ornatus) is located on page 44, of The Shell Book, commonly located in Southeast Florida and West Indies, as well as slight variation on the shell's hinge (the West Indies species being protruded on the right side and flat on the left), it is unlikely this is the same species featured in my shell book. However it is likely that it is a closely related species.

The smaller shell in the photo (above), seems to have an identical shape with the larger shell, but lacks the speckled colors, it is a solid wine color.

The identification of the specific species of either shell featured above, would be appreciated.

Your scallop shells are Atlantic calico scallops (Argopecten gibbus); up to 3 inches; it's an ocean species and has lots of color combinations. NC also has Atlantic bay scallops which are usually gray or brown and live in the sounds and estuaries.
Terri K. Hathaway
Marine Education Specialist
North Carolina Sea Grant
http://www.ncseagrant.org/

Atlantic calico scallop Argopecten gibbus (Linnaeus)
Description: (3 inches) Similar in shape and sculpturing to the Atlantic Bay Scallop. Both valves cupped. Hinge line with ears. About 20 radial ribs sometimes roughened by growth lines.
Color: Exterior of upper (left) valve dark yellow or pink with striking combinations of red in stripes or blotches. Lower (right) valve whitish with small reddish or purple spots. White interior, often with brown patches on ears and top edge.
Habitat: Lives only in ocean, east of Cape Lookout and southwest of Beaufort Inlet in 100-foot depths. Commonly found on sound and ocean beaches.
Range: Delaware to Brazil.
Notes: It is occasionally fished commercially and popular among tourists.
Source: Seashells of North Carolina, North Carolina Sea Grant College Program

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Lettered Olive, Oliva sayana

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This shell (both shape and markings matching the listing in the book) is likely the Lettered Olive Oliva sayana, measuring 2-2.5" and commonly found from North Carolina through Florida and Gulf Coast.

Olive-Shaped - olives (Olividae)
Lettered Olive Oliva sayana (Ravenel)
Description: (2.5 inches) Smooth, shiny, cylindrical shell with a short spire. Narrow aperture extending almost length of shell, continuing around the bottom and ending in a notch on the other side. Suture V-cut and deep. Lower part of whorl just above the suture extends outward and then at a sharp shoulder drops into the suture. No operculum.
Color: Cream or grayish exterior with reddish brown zigzag markings.
Habitat: Lives in near-shore waters on shallow sand flats near inlets. Occasionally to commonly washed onto ocean beaches.
Range: North Carolina to Gulf states.
Notes: This species is named for its dark surface markings that resemble letters. A carnivore, it captures bivalves and small crustaceans with its foot and takes them below the sand surface to digest. Its presence is sometimes detected at very low tides by the trails it leaves when it crawls below the surface on semi-exposed sand flats. Females lay floating, round egg capsules that are often found in beach drift. Young are free swimming. Colonists and early native Americans made jewelry from these shells.

Brown Olive Oliva reticularis bifasciata (Kuster)
Description: (2.5 inches) Very similar to the lettered olive (above) except this species in North Carolina waters has (1) a less pointed spire, (2) a channel suture not deeply V-cut and (3) a lower whorl portion that runs almost directly into the connecting suture.
Color: Similar to lettered olive except in this shell (1) the pattern is lighter and more reticulated than zigzag, (2) the color is yellowish and (3) brown spots that run from the suture "thread" or "bleed" down the shell (in the lettered olive they do not).
Habitat: Lives in deep offshore waters. Found by divers near shipwrecks. Collected on sandy bottom near lions-paw scallops at 100-feet depth off Wrightsville Beach. From Wrightsville Beach to just above Cape Lookout, seems restricted to the edge of the continental shelf at about 300-foot depths.
Range: Cape Lookout, N.C. to West Indies
Source for both entries: Seashells of North Carolina, North Carolina Sea Grant College Program

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Atlantic Auger

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This shell seemingly (according to two sources) Usbourne Spotter's SHELLS and The Shell Book, Atlantic, Gulf and Carribean belong among Fusinus and Augers.

Two species are shown which best match, the species which is listed as common to North Carolina would be the Common Atlantic Auger, scientific name Terebra dislocata, measuring between 1.5 to 2", and found between Virginia to Florida, and the West Indies.

Auger-Shaped (Terebridae)
Eastern Auger Terebra dislocata (Say)
Description: (2 1/4 inches) Long, pointed spire. Whorls not concave. Prominent spiral cord at top of each whorl that winds around 20 to 25 low axial ribs. Smaller spiral cords between axial ribs. Canal at bottom of aperture. Thin operculum.
Color: Varied exterior with bands of pale gray, pinkish brown or orange-brown. Tan operculum.
Habitat: Lives in sounds and offshore on shallow sand flats. Common on sound and ocean beaches.
Range: Virginia to Brazil.
Notes: Also called a common American auger or Atlantic auger. A carnivore, it lacks the radula and poison gland found in most other augers. Hatched young crawl away.
Source: Seashells of North Carolina, North Carolina Sea Grant College Program

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Baby's Ear

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These shells can be seen through, (though the lighting was bad in the attached photographs) two species are listed in my shell identification book, with a second verification in another Shells book. Baby Ear is the name of this particular shell.

The two species, are Maculated Baby's Ear Sinum maculatum, measuring 1-2", found throughout the Carolinas and West Coast of Florida.
Common Baby's Ear, Sinum perspectivum, 1-2", and found throughout Virginia through Florida, Gulf of Mexico and West Indies.

White Baby-Ear Sinum perspectivum (Say)
Description: (1 3/4 inches) Flat, smooth, ovate shell. Well-named. Low spiral cords on upper side of whorl. When alive, almost completely covered by mantle; resembles a piece of white gristle. No umbilicus. Large, round aperture. No operculum.
Color: White exterior. Pale brown periostracum. Yellowish cream mantle.
Habitat: Commonly found in shallow offshore waters and washed onto ocean beaches.
Range: Maryland to Brazil.
Notes: Also called Common Atlantic Baby-Ear.
Source: Seashells of North Carolina, North Carolina Sea Grant College Program

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Razor Shells, Jackknife Clam

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There are two varieties of species in my shell identification book(s) which fit the shells in the photo. However, the smallest variety, Jackknife clam Ensis minor, 2-3" is listed as commonly found from Florida to Texas.
The larger variety, Green Jackknife Clam Solen viridis, 2" is found from Rhode Island through Northern Florida and Gulf Coast.

Razor-Shaped jackknives (Solenidae)
Atlantic jackknife Ensis directus (Conrad)
Description: (5 inches) Long, slender shell six times as long as high. Slightly curved with blunt ends. Looks like an old-fashioned razor. Cardinal and lateral hinge teeth at back of beak.
Color: Whitish exterior. White and violet interior. Shiny olive to brown periostracum.
Habitat: Lives in sounds and offshore burrowing in muddy sand. Common on ocean beaches, particularly above Cape Hatteras. Often found in shell drift at tide line.
Range: Canada to South Carolina.
Notes: This species is excellent tasting but not fished commercially. It burrown rapidly into sand and swims in an erratic manner. Edges of the shell are sharp.

Minor Jackknife Ensis minor (Dall)
Description: (5 inches, but most are about 1 3/4 inches)
Similar to Atlantic jackknife except smaller, more fragile and possibly more pointed at the toothless end of the hinge. About nine times as long as high.
Color: Whitish exterior. Interior stained with purple. Reportedly paler than the Atlantic Jackknife.
Habitat: Lives offshore burrowed in muddy sand at depths to about 60 feet and in moderate- to high-salinity estuaries. Commonly washed onto ocean beaches.
Range: New Jersey to Texas.
Notes: Also called a dward razor clam or common razor clam. It is often eaten by wading birds. Authorities question whether this might be a subspecies of the Atlantic jackknife. Most small specimens found below the Cape Lookout area should be the minor jackknife.

Green Jackknife Solen viridis (Say)
Description: (1 1/2 inches) Long, slender shell similar to the Atlantic Jackknife but shorter and less curved. Four or five times as long as high. Hinge line almost straight but possibly slightly curved. One cardinal tooth in hinge of each valve.
Color: Grayish white exterior and interior. Yellowish green periostracum.
Habitat: Lives in sounds and intertidal sand bars. Occasionally washed onto sound and ocean beaches in shell drift at tide line.
Range: Rhode Island to Texas.
Notes: See Atlantic Jackknife Notes

Source: Seashells of North Carolina, North Carolina Sea Grant College Program

Related Posts: Atlantic Jackknife Clam

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Keyhole Limpets

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I have located a possible semi-positive identification, in Usbourne Spotter's SHELLS. Two such shells with the shape as seen in the photograph. Both are called "limpets".
Keyhole limpets "Unlike other limpets, most keyhole limpets have a small hole in the top of their shell. They have to stay underwater so that they don't dry out."

Classed among Gastropods
Top-Shaped - keyhole limpets (Fissurellidae)

Cayenne Keyhole Limpet Diodora cayenesis (Lamarck)
Description: (1 inch) Shell shaped like a small, low cone or a coolie hat. Many ribs radiating from the small, subcentral keyholelike opening on top of shell. Inside of keyhole opening outlined by a truncate callus with a deep pit on its concave edge.
Color: Exterior white and pinkish gray or brown. Interior white to gray.
Habitat: Lives in inlets and offshore waters attached to rocks or shells. Occasionally found on sound and ocean beaches.
Range: New Jersey to Brazil.
Notes: Also called a little keyhole limpet. A herbivore, it uses radula to scrape algae off of rocks. Its powerful foot creates strong suction to keep waves from washing it off the rocks. Water enters under the edge of the shell and exits through the "keyhole" near the peak. Its eggs are yellow and stick to rocks. Hatched young crawl away.
Source: Seashells of North Carolina, North Carolina Sea Grant College Program

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