Posted: Dec 3, 2012 by Don68:
Over the past 5 years I have done extensive beach combing at Coral Cove on Jupiter Island, to the extent that Dr. Harry Lee has confirmed that I have found 315 taxa. Prior to this time I collected extensively for 3 years at Walton Rocks on Hutchinson Island. During this time I found one live specimen: a large, albino Busycon sinistrum. This November, because of severe erosion, collecting at Coral Cove has been very disappointing. My few forays to Walton Rocks from 2008 to 2011 yielded NO even marginal specimens. During the past 2 weeks I have found 2 live Argopecten gibbuses, 4 live Fasciolaria Tulipas, 1 live Macrocypraea cervus, 1 live Busycoptypus spiratus, a Trachycardium muricatum pair and a 11.5 inch Busycon sinistrum at the site! Another beachcomber found a 12 inch Triplofusus giganteus (ya can't get them all!)
Marlo:
Hi Don,
Is this the beach you are calling Walton Rocks, just south of the Walton Rocks Nuclear Power Plant?
Don68: It is.
Marlo:
Walton Rocks was the most southerly of four shoreline areas sampled by William Lyons in 1971 and 1975 (Lyons, William G. November 1989. Nearshore Marine Ecology at Hutchinson Island, Florida: 1971-1974, XI. Mollusks. Florida Marine Research Institute, No. 47). I have collected there once (I believe about two years ago) trying to replicate Lyons' findings. It is of particular interest to me because he reported Costoanachis similis Ravenel, 1861 collected live there. Since I consider C. similis to be nomen dubium , I wanted to find some. But, that's another story.
In any event, Lyons reported 22 species of univalves and four species of bivalves found live at Walton Rocks.
