Southwest Florida Shells

by José H. Leal

Family Lucinidae

Codakia orbicularis

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Tiger Lucine

Shell size to 85 mm; shell circular, compressed. Sculpture of radial lines crossed by finer concentric threads. Lunule deep, heart-shaped, larger on right valve. Periostracum thin, brownish. Color white, margins often pink internally. This is a common species in the tropical Western Atlantic, including the East Coast of Florida and the Florida Keys. Although there is a good record from Kice Island (collected by Amy Tripp in 2011), the few records of the species for Sanibel present in the Museum collection are most likely cases of mislabeled locality data.