Southwest Florida Shells

by José H. Leal

Family Cancellariidae

Ventrilia tenera

(R. A. Philippi, 1848)

Fine-cut Nutmeg

Shell size to 30 mm; shell stocky, solid, apical part of whorl with strong, flat shelf. Side of whorls with 3-5 beaded cords. The umbilicus is very deep, funnel-shaped. Color light-brown to light-orange to yellow. This species is known mostly from shells collected through offshore dredging and the fossil record in Florida. The yellowish-orange specimen was collected by Michael Gillmore (Michael G-by-the-Sea) on Christmas Day, 2014 on Blind Pass, and the lighter-colored specimen by Lois Dunnam on December, 2003, after a winter storm, on the beach off West Gulf Drive's Beach Access no. 7, both on Sanibel Island.