Southwest Florida Shells

by José H. Leal

Family Columbellidae

Aesopus stearnsii

(Tryon, 1883)

Stearns Dove Snail

Shell size up to 5 Shell slender (among the most slender columbellids), whorls slightly convex, aperture length about 1/3 shell length. Sculpture of incised spiral lines. Shell cream color, fresh shells more strongly colored, usually orange-brown. Protoconch of 1.5 smooth whorls. The photo shows a 4 mm shell collected by Phyllis Sharp at Gulfside City Park Beach on February 2016, and the one in the supplementary image was found by Rebecca Mensch off West Gulf Drive on Sanibel, in October 2015.