Seashells of the CaribbeanThe nature of the marine shell fauna of the Caribbean is extremely diverse, seeking shelter beneath the sand of beaches, under the rocks of coastal areas, in the soft deep mud of estuaries, in dark submarine caves, in the thick growths of marine prairies, and under branches of vast coral outcrops. It remains unobtrusive and often difficult to discover. Each species has its geographical distribution and populations vary in size, shape and colour according to environment; some animals migrate seasonally far afield. Tidal movement in the Caribbean is unspectacular other than during the spring and autumn equinoxes when shallow reefs and sand flats emerge briefly. The intertidal zone remains stable and undisturbed, with the exception of the passage of tropical storms and hurricanes, governing the lives of many gastropods and bi-valves. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Colour and pigmentation in shell and animal | 16 |
Clams scallops and mussels the bivalves | 75 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
1½ inches 15 fathoms 20 fathoms Acmaea animal lives aperture areas Astraea ATLANTIC beautiful bivalve blunt spines body whorls Brachidontes burrowing Caribbean Cassis chitons clam COCKLE colonies common coral reef coral sand Coral Shells Cowrie crabs cream coloured Cymatium Cypraea dark brown Donax eel grass eel grass beds eggs environment Fasciolaria feeding Florida and West Florida Keys foot Frog Shells gastropod gastropod shell Genus glossy white highly carnivorous hinge inches Florida inches S.E. Florida inches S.E. U.S. inches West Indies Indies to Brazil Indies to Venezuela intertidal zone Latirus LIMPET Linné lives in shallow Lucina mantle marine mauve Melongena molluscan molluscs mottling mud bottoms Murex mussels numerous operculum orange outer lip periostracum PERIWINKLE pink prey purple radula ribs ridges ROCK SHELL Röding SCALLOP sculpturing sexes are separate shallow eel grass shallow water siphonal canal snail specimens spiral submerged thick toothed TOP SHELL TRITON Turitella valves Venezuela West Indies yellow