Spur of the Moment Night Shelling

Friday evening I got a message from Cheri telling me that a shell pile seemed to be forming on the beach, she was watching it as she was taking pictures of the amazing sunset.  So off we went to do some night shelling, low tide was to be at 11:00 pm and we were able to hit the beach by 8:15! She was right, the amount of shells was unbelievable! 

I found a couple of Jewel Box pairs...

...only a part of a Flat Scallop... (ZigZag Scallop)...

 This is only a piece of a beautiful orange True Tulip, a Shark's eye and an Orange Jingle shell...

....and a bunch of colorful scallops!

I ended up with this Banded Tulip, Worm Shell and 3 Tellins!

 I also found this little Jewel box with an Awesome spine!

Cheri's bucket was full of a few treasures as well...she found Calico Clams, colorful Scallops, Olives, a nice Gaudy Nautica (center), double Jewel Boxes, top shells...a little of everything! But alas, no Alphabet Cones for either of us! We just knew we would find some!

We did get to see some live stuff though... This guy (Hermit Crab) was walking in the tidal pool in his nice sized Lightning Whelk! Check out those green eyes!

 This was a BEAUTIFUL Florida Horse Conch, I think it was the brightest orange one I have ever seen!

 Yes, he was live...even his Operculum (little door) was orange!!

 These live Calico Scallops were sitting along side the tidal pool, (you can see the 'eyes' glowing in the flash (along the shell edge) on the one in the middle!)

Cheri says this guy needed to do some house cleaning!! How many crabs do you see in this picture? Another beautiful Lightning Whelk!

We had a great time...I really enjoy this night shelling! So much to see!

Tomorrow is Shell crafting day, stay tuned!

::Shelllady Hugs::