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Posted: Jan 28 2016

 Columbella mercatoria (Linnaeus, 1758), Common Dove Shell

3/3/16  Rusty:

 

They are the largest dove snail on treasure coast. Hadn't found any rusty dove snails. One source says their colors depend on the algaes they eats. The treasure coast ones most resemble the pictures above. They are common but often not found by normal beach hunting. In rare cases they can be deposited on beach in shell hash but the vast majority of the time due to their dense shapes the sea likes to keep them in shell hash in splash zone so use flea crab trap can find in hash. The other dove snails I have found just this year are much tiny, except for their strongly triangular mouth resembles dwarf olive shells.

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