A milestone: after six and one half years of blogging, I have reached WordPress’s 3GB maximum of free image storage. This is at least one picture a day, probably more on average, for some 2375 days. Wow! Feel free to wander about in the voluminous archives, loosely cataloged by subject…
But now I have to pay to continue playing here. I’ve resolutely kept advertising at bay (although Word Press hasn’t; some people see ads on individual posts, but I’ve never gotten any revenue from this), and am trying to figure out my next steps to maintain this project.
But in the meantime, how about this Florida Horse Conch shell (Triplofusus giganteus). It is 16″/41cm long and was M’s Florida grandmother’s, so we have no idea how long it has been beached. I was not aware there were such large univalves in American waters — the species ranges from North Carolina south. I’m used to the Knobbed and Channeled Whelks up here in our chilly currents.
This is Florida’s state shell. They can get up to two feet long, making them our largest gastropod. The soft part of the animal — but how can you separate the soft parts from the hard shell? isn’t that like taking the skeleton out of a vertebrate? — is a great carnivore and a startlingly bright orange/coral color.
Backyard and Beyond 
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