Mosquito Lagoon is the most northern section of the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), North America's most biologically diverse estuary system. The IRL was the first ever designated Estuary of National Significance. The IRL stretches approximately 156 miles along the east coast of Florida from Ponce Inlet at the north to Jupiter Inlet at the South. The lagoon region encompasses portions of Volusia, Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Palm Beach counties. The lagoon system actually encompasses a series of shallow, interconnected lagoons -- the Indian River, the Mosquito Lagoon and the Banana River. Six small and widely spaced inlets connect the lagoon to the Atlantic Ocean. The size of these inlets and the shallow nature of the lagoon allow for a limited exchange of waters between the lagoon and the ocean. One of these inlets, Port Canaveral, is separated from the lagoon by locks, further reducing tidal exchange with the ocean.

Click here and then click on "INTRODUCING THE INDIAN RIVER LAGOON" for a description of the IRL.

The IRL has a great diversity along its 156 mile length, but limited diversity at any one section. Much of the Lagoon is polluted and heavily developed. However, the southern half of the Mosquito Lagoon portion of the IRL is surrounded by the Canaveral National Seashore and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and is the one section of the IRL that remains entirely undeveloped. This area is rather distant from the inlet at Ponce and does not exchange waters with the ocean. I've collected shells in Mosquito Lagoon at Haulover Canal three times - most recently, early this past September, 2006. I've just started sorting the dredge material and suspect there will be several vials of surplus, although mostly common species and not a lot of diversity.

One shell we've confirmed from this locale that is often confused with Tellina versicolor is Tellina texana.

If you are interested in receiving a vial of this material, the usual groundrules apply. Request a vial here on LTS and commit to submitting a complete list of your identifications here on LTS (see other checklists for how this works). No more vials are available (11/20).

The following list represents the species identified by the contributors identified in the Key, below. Check back to this post as it'll be used as a MASTER LIST of everyone's ID's with updates, corrections and added images. This list is moderated by Marlo and the comments in blue are his. Post your ID's and they'll be added to this MASTER LIST. Where there have been recent changes in genus names the older name may be included in parenthesis to aid recognition. Some of the ID names have been hot-linked to images of the same name on the web. Unless specifically identified as one of the Mosquito Lagoon shells, none of the images are of actual shells from Mosquito Lagoon. These links are meant only to facilitate IDs

Key: D = doubtful; DT = ID by Dan Teven; GW = gwatters; MB = Matt Blaine; MK = Marlo Krisberg; WW = Wayne Wilson; KC = Kevin Czaja

Updated 11/30/06

Acteocina canaliculata (highly variable, but in the end I couldn't justify assigning any to A. lepta or A. recta) (DT) You may well have both A. canaliculata and A. atrata, which is not in Abbott. See Comparison of Acteocina canaliculata (Say, 1826), A. candei (d’Orbigny, 1841), and A. atrata spec. nov. (Gastropoda: Cephalaspidea), Paul S. Mikkelsen and Paula M. Mikkelsen, The Veliger, 27(2): 164-192, October 5, 1984.
Acteocina candei (WW; KC) D, See this discussion
Astyris lunata (DT; GW; WW; KC)
Bittiolium varium (DT; GW; KC)
Bulla occidentalis (GW)
Bulla striata (DT; KC) Bulla occidentalis and B. striata are the same - just a matter of which name you choose to use (see posts on this issue below).
Bulla umbilicata (WW) Some collectors follow Abbott and use B. umbilicata as a subspecies name for the Caribbean form of B. striata. The two may be the same species.
Busycotypus spiratus pyruloides (WW)
Caecum pulchellum (DT; GW; WW) More images.
Cerithiopsis gemmulosa (GW)
Cerithium atratum (MB; KC)
Cerithium muscarum (DT; GW; MB; WW)
Crepidula depressa (MB; KC)
Crepidula maculosa (DT; GW; WW; KC)
Fasciolaria tulipa (WW) Image is of shell from Mosquito Lagoon.
Granulina hadria (1 specimen, plus 1 that is either G. hadria or G. lachrimula --
see See comparison (DT; GW; MB; WW) It's G. hadria. Harry Lee of Jacksonville has examined and confirmed this material from Haulover Canal as G. hadria. Note the crescent shape of the outer lip of G. lachrimula and the pronounced presence of teeth on the inside of the outer lip.
Haminoea succinea (DT)
Longchaeus suturalis (Previously Pyramidella crenulata) (GW; MB; WW; KC)
Marshallora modesta (DT; MK) More modesta
Melanella conoidea (KC)
Modulus modulus (DT; GW; MB; KC)
Nassarius vibex (DT; GW; MB; WW; KC)
Olivella pusilla (DT; GW; MB; WW; KC)
Petitilla crosseana (MK)
Pilsbryspira leucocyma (DT; GW; WW; KC)
Prunum apicinum (DT; GW; KC)
Prunum carneum (WW)
Pyrgocythara plicosa (DT; GW; MB; KC)
Rictaxis punctostriatus (GW; MB)
Triphora sp. (WW - maybe pulchella?)
Truncatella pulchella (KC)
Turbonilla interrupta (a banded form; can't place a name on it) (DT; WW) This is T. toyatani see discussion
Turbonilla cf. riisei (GW; MB) This is T. toyatani Henderson and Bartsch, 1914. see discussion
Turbonilla toyatani (MK; KC)
Urosalpinx perrugata (WW) Very doubtful. Despite Abbott's range description as "Both sides of Florida," we have only found this species from the Keys north along Florida's west coast. Note also that Redfern does not report U. perrugata. Most likely you have Eupleura sulcidentata. Again Abbott has the range wrong for this species as "West coast of Florida. Bimini." We've confirmed E. sulcidentata on both sides of Florida and Redfern reports it from the Bahamas. Abbott's photo (#1960) of E. sulcidentata in American Seashells is not typical. The drawing in his field guide is more accurate. See this image.

BIVALVES
Anadara ovalis (MK)
Anomalocardia auberiana (KC)
Barbatia cancellaria (MB)
Carditamera floridana (GW; MB; WW; KC)
Chione elevata (DT; GW; KC)
Glans dominguensis (DT; WW)
Lyonsia hyalina (GW; MB; KC) More images.
Mercenaria mercenaria form notata (WW; KC)
Parastarte triquetra (DT; GW; MB; WW; KC)
Tagelus divisus (KC) More images.
Tagelus plebeius (WW; KC)
Tellina aequistriata (GW)
Angulus merus (DT; KC)
Angulus texanus (GW; MB; KC)

Thanks, Marlo!

Here's my list.

Modulus modulus
Crepidula maculosa
Marshallora modesta
Diastoma varium
Cerithium muscarum
Caecum pulchellum
Nassarius vibex
Astyris lunata
Olivella pusilla
Granulina hadria (1 specimen, plus 1 that is either G. hadria or G. lachrimula --
see http://www.jaxshells.org/granj.htm)
Prunum apicinum
Pilsbryspira leucocyma
Pyrgocythara plicosa
Bulla striata
Turbonilla interrupta (a banded form; can't place a name on it) see discussion
Acteocina canaliculata (highly variable, but in the end I couldn't justify assigning any to A. lepta or A. recta)
Haminoea succinea

Glans dominguensis
Parastarte triquetra
Chione elevata
Tellina mera

Marlo: I would be glad to take a crack at another vial, although, as I said for the previous offer, the next few weeks will be unlikely to provide much time for shell related activities. We're still looking at moving in about 3-4 weeks. We'll be on Sanibel from November 25-December 9 and back again January 3-February 3.

Herb Chapin
--

Here's my list for the Mosquito Lagoon (sounds like a nice place):

Asytris lunata
Bittiolum varium
Bulla occidentalis (striata is Mediterranean)
Caecum pulchellum
Cerithiopsis gemmulosus
Cerithium muscarum
Crepidula maculosa
Granulina hadria
Modulus modulus
Nassarius vibex
Olivella pusilla
Pilsbryspira leucocyma
Prunum apicinum
Pyramidella crenulata
Pyrgocythara plicosa
Rictaxis punctostriatus
Turbonilla cf. riisei see discussion

Carditameria floridana
Chione elevata
Lyonsia hyalina
Parastarte triquetra
Tellina aequistriata
Tellina texana


Added to master list 11/3.

Tom,

Do you have the citation for the reference discussing occidentalis is striata?

Redfern discusses it and refers to Je Jong & Coomans (1988). The species from Mosquito Lagoon has the rounded profile of Redfern's occidentalis more than the straight sided umbilicata.

OK! I use Common and Scientific Names of Aquatic Invertibrates from the United States and Canada: Mollusks, 2nd Ed., 1998, American Fisheries Society Special Publication 26, Bethesda, Maryland, as my baseline for species names unless there has been a publication since 1998. Redfern cites Olsson & Harbison (1953) and Marcus & Marcus (1967). However, Abbott in 1974 went with B. striata. DeJong & Coomans simply used B. occidentalis in 1988 without comment.

I'll stick with the citation in Mollusks (Bulla striata).

Hey Marlo,
here is my Mosquito Lagoon, Florida List. There are a few species that haven't shown up on previous lists. Although the Lyonsia looks somewhat different than the L. hyalina we find up here in the North, I'm still assuming it is not "floridana" (as I was under the impression that floridana is restricted to the west coast).


GASTROPODS:

1 Modulus modulus (Linnaeus, 1758)
2 Cerithium atratum (Born, 1778)
3 Bittiolum varium (Pfeiffer, 1840)
4 Truncatella pulchella (Pfeiffer, 1834)
5 Crepidula maculosa (Conrad, 1846)
6 Crepidula depressa (Say, 1822)
7 Melanella conoidea (Kurtz & Stimpson, 1851)
8 Astyris lunata (Say, 1826)
9 Nassarius vibex (Say, 1822)
10 Olivella pusilla (Marrat, 1871)
11 Prunum apicinum (Menke, 1828)
12 Pyrgocythara plicosa (C. B. Adams, 1850)
13 Pilsbryaspira leucocyma (Dall, 1883)
14 Pyramidella suturalis (H. C. Lea, 1843)
15 Turbonilla toyatani (Henderson & Bartsch, 1914)
16 Bulla striata (Bruguiere, 1792)
17 Acteocina candei (d'Orbigny, 1842)

BI-VALVES:
18 Carditamera floridana (Conrad, 1838)
19 Tellina mera (Say, 1834)
20 Tellina texana (Dall, 1900)
21 Chione cancellata (Linnaeaus, 1767)
22 Anomalocardia auberiana (d'Orbigny, 1842)
23 Mercenaria mercenaria (Linnaeus, 1758)
24 Parastarte triquetra (Conrad, 1846)
25 Tagelus plebius (Lightfoot, 1786)
26 Tagelus divisus (Spengler, 1794)
27 Lyonsia hyalina (Conrad, 1831)

Kevin,

Go to this topic for an image comparison of L. floridana vs hyalina. We've documented both from both Florida coasts.

It would be nice if you could get Leo to do some images of L. hyalina from your area and post them in the above topic for comparison.

Kevin,

This is one I haven't heard of. It's not in Abbott, Redfern, Mollusks, Bailey-Mathews database, or any of Harry Lee's Florida checklists. I presume this is what the rest of us have called Longchaeus crenulatus (Holmes, 1860), you've treated this name as a synonym, and given preference to Pyramidella suturalis (H. C. Lea, 1843). Per chance do you have a reference that discusses these two?

marlo

Hi Marlo,
no discussion unfortunately, just what Gary Rosenberg has as the most recent name in Malacolog database. I went there looking for the full info on "Longchaeus crenulatus" and instead found he had the name represented by: Pyramidella suturalis (H. C. Lea, 1843). So I don't really know what is "technically" proper right now, but I just assumed that must be the newest usage.
-Cheers, Kevin

I saw that too when I did a we search and suspected that might be what you relied upon. Did you notice the notice on Malacolog that the website was "Obsolete?"

I'll add it to the list as Pyramidella suturalis with a note.

marlo

Marlo,
there is a new version for Malacolog that just got updated recently (it now includes Western Atlantic Bi-valves). So I believe the "obsolete" note refers to the old version. You should update your link to the newest version (4.0.2). I believe the following link should do it:
http://data.acnatsci.org/wasp/index.php

-Kevin