Comments on: Purple Sea Snails a Curiosity on Florida Beaches

By: beachhunter

beachhunter — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:21:15 +0000

Hi Janthina. Sorry, I don’t have any idea where you could purchase a janthina shell. There must be web sites where shell collectors could be prevailed upon to give up one from their collection. Especially to a namesake.

By: Janthina

Janthina — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:32:05 +0000

Thank you for the pictures. I don’t live near a beach do you know where I can buy a Janthina Shell. Janthina is my name.

By: beachhunter

beachhunter — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:02:50 +0000

Miss Pam, sure, send a photo to beachhunter[at]beachhunter[dot]net. Nothing immediately comes to mind as far as an ID. Although I do wonder if the shell might be old enough to have obtained its dark coloration from mineralization.

By: Miss Pam

Miss Pam — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 18:46:06 +0000

I just had a student in my room who was showing me shells for a project they are doing in class. It looks like a volute family gastropod but very thin and dark brown to black in color. I know this is not a Florida species and I am wondering if it didn’t hitch a ride with the Man-o-wars that are coming onto the beach in herds. Any idea what it might be? I can include a picture of it later in another email
Let me know.
Thanks

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 17:37:49 +0000

How or what is required to collect the dye from the
Janthina Janthina?

By: Lila

Lila — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 18:57:49 +0000

I found three of them just today. it is the first time in my life i see that kind of snail on beach. I found them on a Greek beach. The animal was still inside. I took it off and my fingers became purple. The dye stayed on my fingers for hours.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:18:31 +0000

I was walking the beach by chinamans hat in oahu hawaii yesterday with my family when i came across these sea snails they are so beautiful. Also there were lots of the baby manowar jellyfish wahsing on shore along with them. It was the first time i have ever seen either creature.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 02:25:07 +0000

In all of my years of beachcombing, I have never found a purple sea snail. Would anyone be willing to send me one? I must have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, because I have collected shells on the middle Atlantic coast, Sanibel, Abaco, BVI, and Galveston and South Padre Island. I can’t even find a shop that sells them. I think I may have missed my best chance on South Padre Island. There were many Portuguese Man o’War, but I didn’t know to look for the snails then. I am so envious of all the lucky people who’ve seen them.

By: Krista Morgan

Krista Morgan — Thu, 20 May 2010 03:17:27 +0000

Saturday evening, May 15, 2010, several of these snails washed ashore at Ft. Pickens, near Pensacola Beach, Gulf of Mexico. They were alive, spewing purple ink, bubble rafts inflated! I put them in a bottle of seawater and the beautiful little snails extended their grape-bubble-gum-colored heads. I tried to pitch them back without much luck. We have had an unusual (for here) amount of Man O’ War, By-the-winds, as well as truckloads of gossamer “barbs” from the Sea Butterfly. Those wonderful winds keeping the oil away from us have brought many strange visitors to our sugar sand beaches. Today we had literally hundreds of large brown rays that appeared to be migrating east along the shore.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:51:50 +0000

My husband and I found a bunch of these on Boynton Beach on Easter morning. We’ve only been here for three years, but we’ve spent a lot of time on the beach and in the shallower waters collecting shells and haven’t ever seen these. There were just a ton of the By-the-wind-sailors and man’0 wars washing up and it looked like the snails washed right up with them. Unfortunately, they were pretty dead (and way smelly) by the time we got to them, so we cleaned them out and will enjoy the shells anyway.