Family Cymatiidae

Shell size to 65 mm; very distinctive shell with solid, globular last whorl, square whorl shoulders, and relatively long siphonal canal. Usually with only one varix other than the thickened lip. Well-preserved shells have the outer lip and parietal wall (region opposite the outer lip) colored peach. Parietal wall with a dark-brown spot. The shell in the main picture was found in October 2016 by Gary Tucker in 0.5 m water on the eastern end of Sanibel. The supplementary image is of a shell found in February 2014 by Jeanne Risher on Kice Island. There are other records from Sanibel.

Shell size to 180 mm; shell with large last whorl. Strong spiral cords and axial ribs crossing to form coarse reticulated sculpture. Sculpture hidden by heavy, brush-like grayish-brown periostracum. Aperture with thick, wavy outer lip and parietal wall with strong white plicae on a mahogany-brown background. Shell color light-gray to light-brown, sometimes with spiral bands of darker hues. A widespread, opportunistic species that may appear and disappear along parts of the distribution range. Long-lasting pelagic larval stage present, as in other ranellids.

Shell size to 70 mm (about 2.75 inches), sculptured with rounded spiral cords, sometimes with small knobs on the periphery (the angled part) of the last whorl. The color is light-brown, sometimes with broad spiral bands of lighter color. Tritons have extremely long pelagic (open-water) larval stages. These can be transported by ocean currents into areas farther away from where the mother tritons deposited their eggs. Girdled Tritons are not common in Southwest Florida, but may occasionally show up in our coast after long, current-driven larval excursions from other parts of the Gulf of Mexico. (In the past, this species was treated as Cymatium cingulatum by several authors.)