Beaded Periwinkle

Tectarius muricatus Found on mangroves at tide line Up to 1"

Angulate Periwinkle
Littorina angulifera Found on mangroves at tide line Up to 1"

Paper Fig seashell

Ficus communis- Shallow water sand bottom. Often misidentified as a pear whelk and visa versa. Very light and fragile seashell. Up to 4"

Pear Whelk
Busycon spiratum Sometimes confused with the fig seashell that is much lighter. Can vary in color form as shown below. The lighter form can really look like a fig shell. Up to 5"

Alphabet Cone
Conus spurius Generally found on sandy bottoms. Also called Chinese alphabet cone. Up to 3.5"

Baby's Ear
Sinum perspectivum Found along beach on sandy bottom. Up to 1.5"

Maculated Ear Moon

Sinum maculosum Usually found offshore. Uncommon. Up to 1.5"

Slipper Shell
Crepidula fornicata On beach. Up to 2"

Worm seashell
A couple different species can be found. Vermicularia knorri Found along beaches. Can really vary in color and shape as seen in photos. Up to 4"

Nutmeg
Cancellaria reticulata Found in shallows on sand. Up to 1.5"

Florida Cone
Conus floridanus Can vary in color form. Found along the beaches. Up to 1.5"

Spiny Jewel Box

Arcinella arcinella Very common along beach, up to 1.5"

Apple Murex
Phyllonotus pomum One of the more common murex that can be found along the shore. Is often occupied by hermit crabs. Up to 3"

Lace Murex
Chicoreus dilectus Can be found ranging in color from Black to brown to orange to white. Along the beaches. Up to 2.5"

Junonia
Scaphella junonia Usually found offshore and dredged up by shrimp boats or diver gathered. It does occasionally washes up on the beach. Up to 5"

Lettered Olive
Oliva sayana Commonly found along the West Coast Florida. If found live or fresh dead the shell can have a great shiny luster. This often fades as the shell is beat up by the surf coming to shore. Up to 3"

Shark Eye or Moon snail

Polinices duplicatus Found along sand bottoms. Generally easy to find. Up to 2"

Gaudy Natica
Natica canrena common in sandy shallows Up to 1"

Bleeding Tooth
Nerita peloronta Intertidal amongst rocks in Bay. Up to 1"

King's Crown
Melongena corona Usually found among the mangroves and oyster beds. Up to 4" in size. Tends to be more of a bay shell because of its habitat. This is not usually a shell to be found along the beach unless you are near a pass of other area where oyster bars and mangroves are near. Color form and spine structure can vary greatly from one area to the next.

Below illustrates the variances with in the species

Banded Tulip
Fasciolaria hunteria Common in shallow grassy bays. Harder to find along the beach as it likes the grass flats that are in the bay. Up to 3"

Fighting Conch
Strombus alatus One of the most common seashells found on Sanibel beaches. They live in colonies, so where one is found there are usually more. They can be found all along the beaches as they love a sandy or light grass habitat. Grows up to 4"

Below you can see the great variation in color of the fighting conch

This is a juvenile fighting conch. It can sometimes be tough to identify because it is so different from an adult one. A lot of the seashell books do not picture it.

True Tulip
Fasciolaria tulipa Somewhat common in the bay. Habitat is more of the grass flats of the bay, so easier to find in the bay then the gulf side beaches. Can get much larger than the banded form. As seen below can be found in a great variety of colors. Up to 8"

Jujube Top-Shell
Calliostoma jujubinum Along the beaches. Up to 1"

Conus delessertii found in deeper waters, varies in shade Up to 3"

Atlantic Bubble
Bulla striata Very common. Gulf of Mexico in grassy areas A light seashell so very abundant after a strong wind. Up to 1"

Scotch Bonnet
Phalium granulatum Found along the beaches. Up to 3". State shell of North Carolina

Wentletraps
Epitonium sps. Commonly found along high tide shoreline Up to 1"

Florida Auger
Terebra floridana Up to 2"

Fly-Specked Cerith
Cerithium muscarum Common 1"

Florida Cerith
Cerithium atratum Common on beach up to 1"

Horse Conch
Pleuroploca gigantea State shell of Florida Found mostly in bay on grass flats but can also be found along the Gulf. Up to 24"

Lightning Whelk
Busycon contrarium One of the few left handed seashells. Up to 15"

Turkey Wing a.k.a. Zebra Arc

Arca zebra Common. Up to 4"

Jingles
Anomia simplex Shallow water abundant. Very shiny. Can be found in a variety of colors. Up to 1.5"

Lion's Paw
Lyropecten nodosus Deeper water. Difficult to find along the beach. Usually bought up in shrimp boat dredges. After storms a half may wash up on the beach. Can be found in a variety of colors as seen below Up to 6"

Pecten Raveneli
Euvola raveneli Difficult to find as a pair. One side is completely flat while the other is cupped. 1 1/2"

Pen Shell
Atrina and Pinna sps. Very common on beach after storm, iridescent interior Up to 10"

Coquina
Donax variabilis Very common and widespread along waters edge. Watch for feeding birds along water edge, they are usually eating coquina Up to 1

Imperial Venus
Chione latilirata Up to 1"

Kitten's Paw
Plicatula gibbosa Abundant along sandy beaches, up to 1"