Southwest Florida Shells

by José H. Leal

Family Veneridae

Choristodon robustus

(G.B. Sowerby I, 1834)

Atlantic Petricolid

Shell size to 24 mm; shell with sculpture of coarse radial ribs crossed by narrower commarginal lines, gaping posteriorly. Beaks point anteriorly. Color dirt white to light gray. Bores into limestone rock or live corals. Formerly known as Rupellaria typica, or Petricola typica, and previously in the family Petricolidae. Specimen found by Dr. Jim Scatterday within a dead coral skeleton just east of Bowman's Beach, Sanibel Island.