[Lettered olive (Oliva sayana)]
One evening during March as I was walking along St. Pete Beach I discovered hundreds of these live lettered olive shells by the water’s edge. They are one of the most beautiful shells to be found on Florida beaches because of their intricate patterns and because they have the most brilliant shine you can imagine.
They are often overlooked because they move very slowly and spend much of their time half buried in the wet sand. I pointed them out to several families playing on the beach and they were amazed that they had not notice these beautiful shells.
If you want to take one home, please wait until you find one that is not alive. Better to leave the live ones to grow and reproduce. It isn’t hard to find olive shells that are no longer living.
