Club Officers:President - Phyllis BernardVice President - Luke CooleySecretary -Paula MeyerriecksCorresponding Secretary - D. J. MooreTreasurer - Jim BrunnerTides - Bill HorvathMembership - Phyllis BernardLibrarian - Gwen LawrenceRaffle - Don KittsmillerNewsletter - Linda Brunner

January - February 2021

President’s Message

Shell and TellThe newsletter of the Gulf Coast Shell Club

Published by the Gulf Coast Shell Club, Inc.

Argopecten irradiansconcentricus (Say, 1822)

Inside

A Chat with the Treasurer...........................................2Warning................................................................2This is not a Science Lesson.......................................3Photographs or Drawings..........................................6From a Friend............................................................6The Father of American Conchology............................7Member News...........................................................8Brant Took a Walk.......................................................8Shows 2021............................................................10

President Phyllis Bernard

Got a text from Linda and she said it was time for another newsletter, and I thought, WOW, that was here quick. Last year was the fastest slowest year I can remember. I thought it would never end and I turned around and it was gone. The year may be gone but one constant is that the ocean and beaches are still here to be enjoyed. So, get out there and enjoy the beaches and the ocean that keeps turning and bring-ing in new treasures. Maybe it will bring that special sea shell you are looking for.

Happy New Year! Phyllis

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A Chat With the Treasurer

I know that you are all delighted that 2020 is now in the rearview mirror. As of this writing the high point of the pandemic has not been reached but as more and more vaccine becomes available that tsunami will recede into the background. Hopefully by the late spring we will be able to begin holding meetings again (can’t wait to see you all again).

While the past year has been tedious and trying for many of you, it has been anything but for the treasury. Shell book sales (primarily on-line) brought in $871.85 and Shell List #1-18 equaled $3,250.75. This brings our bank balance to a record high of $15,792.50.

Now to the future where there are three items that we must collectively consider:

1. Shells on the shell lists have been priced at 50% or less of retail price. We may be able to constitute lists #19 and 20 from the stock of shells still left on hand (a considerable number) but after that the prices would escalate into the low to mid-hundreds per shell mak-ing this method of getting shells into the hands of members difficult at best. Better that we retain them for a summer auction or for the club booth at our next shell show. Your thoughts on this would be helpful.

2. Shell Show. If the membership is agreeable I would like to look into scheduling a date for a 2021 Shell Show sometime in late July to early August. Hopefully we will be out of the pandemic woods by then and will feel safe about such a venture.

3. Shell Book. Seashells of the Florida Panhandle has done well for the club since its first sales in 2011. Over 6300 copies of the book have gone out and over $30,000 has come in. (I know you just compared the numbers and are wondering why the treasury isn’t larger. Remember that we had 9 shell shows (2011-2019) with an average loss for each at $2,000-$2,500.). Currently we are down to 300 copies and need to think about a 3rd Edition if we wish to continuing selling them. Linda and I have started working on updating the material for the book. We really haven’t pushed sales since Hurricane Michael and have only sold 450 copies in the last 30 months suggesting that there is a pent-up demand out there. If we do reorder another 3,000 copies ($3800-4000) someone else will have to assume responsibility for sales beginning in January 2022.

We need your input on all three of these topics. You may do that by responding to this news-letter email. Hope to see you soon. Jim B

Warning!Most of us have seen shells with fishing line embedded. We have read reports of the plastic six pack rings choking or binding birds . Now we have another hazzard that we must guard against.....Masks! If you discard a mask ALWAYS cut the ear loops first. There are many re-ports of wildlife getting entangled in these loops resulting in death from starvation and/or strangulation. Dispose of your disposable masks properly, please!

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How much do you know about our club logo? Do you know its name? Has it always had the same name? Why is it orange? Are orange scallops poisonous? Do the yellow ones taste different? And on and on and o......!

Back in 1979 when the Gulf Coast Shell Club was found-ed and incorporated the members, along with forming a constitution and bylaws, chose a logo. Scalloping in the bays was a popular activity and oystering was the way many made their living. Other shells were just an inter-esting diversion to some. When it came time to choose a logo many thought the local scallop, especially the or-ange and yellow ones were quite pretty and it was de-cided that the scallop would be the club logo. As years passed the orange colored ones were favored. Yellow ones were scarce but one could often find the vivid or-ange shells when they went scalloping for dinner. Re-search also showed that no other club in Florida used the scallop as their logo so the bay scallop was selected.

Wait a minute. Bay Scallop? I thought it was called the Southern Scallop. No, I read an article where it was the Southern Bay Scallop. What is it? So goes the argu-ment for using scientific nomenclature. Before we get into scallop rumor and gossip let’s look at how the shell is classified.

Remember high school science and biology. We were taught that all living things have a name and a family. Teachers had all kinds of ways for us to remember all of these different groups. The first one I learned was all about King Philip. He came over for spaghetti. Not just any spaghetti but great spaghetti!

Before we go deeper into King Philip you may notice that some of the illustrations begin with domain. Domain? King Philip did not have a domain. No, he didn’t. You are not losing your mind unless you were born in the 1980s. In that case you might know.

Linnaeus, when he created his classification system, used kingdom as the largest, most general, group. It wasn’t until 1990 that Domain was created as the high-est, most general group in the system further defining the groups.

Now let’s plug the basics into the system.

This is Not a Science Lesson!

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Over=Order The next group is order. Order is more specific than class. We, you and I, belong to the order Primate. Our scallop is Pectinida.

For=Family You understand this don’t you? You belong to the Morgan or Mitchell or Bernard family. Its family is Pectinidae.

Great=Genus This is more to the point than family and is part of an organism’s scientific name using binomial nomencla- ture. The scallop genus is Argopecten.

Spaghetti=Species Now we are down to specifics, get it? This is the most specific part of an organisms name. Our spe- cific name is irradians.

Okay. Let’s look at our scallop. Where did it start? It all started when Lamarck named our logo Pecten irradians in 1819. Now the classification we all learned with King Philip has been further divided. I will leave their discovery to your independent curiosity. You and I will stay with the basics.

So Lamarck originally named our shell in 1819 but it is not that name any more. This is primarily due to our expanding knowledge. Now, if you look at our Mast Head you will see changes. Lamarck is not even there. Our logo is now a dif-ferent genus with a different author and a species and sub-species. Expanding knowledge can be troublesome at times.

Later in the year 1889 Monterosato erected a new genus called Argopecten which sub-divided Pecten. The author of

King=Kingdom Remember that we, amongst living things, have kingdoms. Does animal kingdom or plant king dom ring a bell? Actually there are 7 kingdoms but we remember these 2 more than the other five. Our scallop is an animal.

Philip=Phylum Next the kingdoms are divided into phylums. This is the next largest group after kingdom. It is Mollusca.

Came=Class We all want to have class. Class is the next rank. The class is Bivalvia.

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But our shell has 3 names and a different author. Who kicked Lamarck to the curb? Actually, we did. As our knowledge increased scientists decided that there were significant differences in the shell from different places. so, subspecies were erected. Now we have 3 different subspecies. They are:

Argopecten irradians irradians (Lamarck, 1819) from Canada down the east coast about to Florida

Argopecten irradians concentricus (Say, 1822) This is our guy whose range is from east of the Mississippi around the coast to about Tampa.

Argopecten irradians amplicostatus (Dall, 1898) from west of the Mississippi around to about Yucatan

There was an imposter for awhile. Occasionally you will see Argopecten irradians taylorae Petuch, 1987 in our past publications. This name was erected in 1987 but has since been removed and, once again, we are A. i. concentricus (Say, 1822)

As to the common name. Unlike the scientific name we know that a shell may have several common names. The consensus for our shell appears to be the Southern Bay Scallop but don’t bet on it.

Now to the lore. When we came to Florida some 40+ years ago we did a lot of scalloping in St. Joe Bay and St Andrews Bay. We were always on the alert for yellow and/or orange scallops. White is the most commom color with brown next, then orange and the rarest of all is yel-low. When out on the bays we would sometimes talk with fellow scallopers. We learned that some people believed that the colored scallops were poisonous or would make you sick if you ate them so they would throw them back in. So we would work out a deal where we would trade with others two or three white scallops for one colored scallop. Such a deal!

the shell did not change but, whenever there is a genus-change, the author and date are placed in parentheses. So its name became Argopecten irradians (Lamarck, 1819). This tells us that Lamarck named the shell in 1819 but somewhere along the way the genus was changed because there are parens around the author and date.

HintRemember, when writing a scientific name, the Genus is always capitalized but the species name is not nor is the subspecies or form. The Genus and species names must be in italics or each underlined. The author and date are sepa-rated by a comma.

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Now, why are members of the same species different colors? We know that we have white, brown, orange and yellow scallops in our bays. I have found all four hues within a 6 foot square. Over time many have tried to an-swer this and have failed to find one answer. Like humans there are many reasons for our differences. The same also goes with scallops. Some research indicates that diet determines color variations and other studies point to the colors being caused by genes. Sound familiar? Nature vs. nur-ture again. Scallops are filter feeders and feed on plankton from the water that surrounds them. Different planktons produce different hues so that must be a factor. Genetics also must play a part as well. When a shell show visitor wants to know what kind of paint I used to paint the scallops in my exhibit I guess I could reply planktonic and genetic paints are my favorites.

I can state from observation that the colors of shells from St Joe Bay are more vivid than the ones from St Andrews Bay and that the shells from St Andrews Bay are stronger in structure than ones collected from St. Joe Bay.

Now you know more about your logo! by Linda Brunner

The Southern Bay Scallop

Argopecten irradians concentricus (Say, 1922)

Photographs or Drawings

Let’s face it, we are spoiled! We want color. We want pretty. But, does color always work?

When I look at the drawings by Lucy Say on the following page I am astounded by the detail. There can be no doubt as to the characteristics of these shells.

In a color photo the color often outshines the sculp-ture. We can be blinded by its beauty and miss details. Line drawings better show characteristics of shells than photographs.

Ideally we need both. Try finding the muscle scar of a scallop by looking at a color photograph.

Just an opinion.

From a Friend

Received this from a friend some time ago. I don’t know the photographer but the work is

outstanding! Count the eyes. Most Strombus have only 2 eyes.

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Lucy Say1800 - 1886Thomas Say

1787 - 1834

TheFather of American

Conchology

The author of our logo, Thomas Say, was born early in 1787 in Philadelphia to a Quaker family. He attended school and trained in pharmacology under his father. He went into business with another and failed. It is documented that he was honest and trusted others to hold the same values. When several of his businesses failed he found solace in natural science. In 1821 he became a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences just as it was changing from a social organization into an association of naturalists. It’s president, William McClure, became his friend and benefactor. Say devoted him-self to the study of the natural world. As a failed businessman it is reported that he lived frugally often spending only 12 cents a day on food and devoting himself solely to natural study. While his scientific reputation soared, his finances did not. In 1818, with his patron McClure, he went on an expedition to the Spanish controlled islands of Georgia and eastern Florida. He later served as chief zoologist on expeditions to the headwaters of the Mississippi. His devotion to study improved his credentials and made him respected by his peers but did not fill his pockets with cash.

When McClure established his Utopia in New Harmony, Indiana he convinced Say to relocate there. Say met and married Lucy Sistare who became the illustrator of his works. It was here his life ended at the age of 47. The town failed but he could not afford to relocate. He contracted malaria during this time and died October 10, 1834. You can find more about the tragic life of Thomas Say online. The following inscription erected to him can be found in the garden of the New Harmony McClure mansion.

“Votary of nature, even as a child.He sought her presence in the

trackless wild.To him, the shell, the insect, and

flowerWere bright and cherished emblems

of her power.In her he saw a spirit all devine,

And worshiped like a pilgrim at her shrine.”

These drawings are from his works and drawn by Lucy Say. The Say collection is at the Academy

of Natural Science in Philadelphia

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Member News

It has been said that there is nothing as per-manent as change. 2020 cerrainly brought us a lot of change and, for us, changes in our members lives.

Sherry Norfield/Trevino (our lovely show clerk and Magnolia blossom creator) has moved to Texas. Bill retired and they have family there. Health wise Sherry reports all is good. She says “hello” to everyone. They will come back when they are ready to put their Lynn Haven home on the market so are not yet Texans. (I have a note to share with members when we meet again.)

Kathy and Glen Adkins have returned to Texas where their son and grandson live. We will miss Kathy’s auction bids and hope they are well in their new residence.

Paula and Charlie Meyerriecks have left Pen-sacola and moved further south to spend more time with their family. As you know Paula has served us well as our recording secretary. We will miss her creative artistic entries in our show and Charlie’s cones.

We wish all of them well in their new home-towns.

Brant Took a WalkIn late November we received these pictures from member Brant Holman. He felt the need to get out of town for a few days. His trip was to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida. He reports that not only did he walk this beach but also visited Jekyll Island, Geor-gia.

These photos are from his beach combing. Thanks for sharing these, Brant.

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There are three different species of whelks in Brant’s pictures. For the first person to email to me all three species named and typed correctly I have an orange scallop logo for you.

For the first to get the most uncommon one named correctly I have a yellow example of our logo. You must include the author/date with the name.

Good luck!

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Sanilbel is having a virtual shell show this year!Go to the Sanibel-Captiva Shell Club web site for details of when/how to

watch the show or, if it is not too late, enter the show online.

NC show is set for May. Keep your fingers crossed!

Traditionally we end each newsletter with a sunset. Given the turmoil of 2020 I thought it more appropriate to focus on a new beginning....a sunrise. I debated

posting a Tequilla Sunrise but thought better of it. So, here’s to a fantastic 2021 where we hope to see the Corona-19 virus in our rear view mirror and a

new, bright year out the front.

Happoy New Year! May it be healthy and joyful.