Lettered Olive - Oliva sayana 2
Olive shells are gastrpods in the family Olividae. All have cylindrical, glossy shells with narrow, elongated apetures.
Letttered olives havea thick shell with a small pointed spire about 1/9th total shell length. Shells that are not faded or beach-worn are covered with overlapping, slightly blurry, brown zigzags that are darkest below the suture and as part of two, broad, spiral bands. Oliva reticularis (the Netted Olive) has no bands and a larger spire of about 1/7th total shell length.
The species' range is from North Carolina to Florida and the Gulf states of North America, including Louisiana and Texas; It also occurs in Mexico, and may also occur in Brazil. The lettered olive typically lives in near-shore waters, on shallow sand flats near inlets. The empty shell is occasionally, or sometimes commonly, washed up onto ocean beaches.
Lettered Olives are carnivores and actively prey on bivalves and crabs.
The lettered olive is the state shell of South Carolina.
Native Americans long ago made necklaces of the handsome shells. In the early 1900s these “Panama Shells” were collected and strung to make portières (door-curtains) to sell to tourists.
www.squidoo.com/lettered-olive-shells
Lettered Olive - Oliva sayana 2
Olive shells are gastrpods in the family Olividae. All have cylindrical, glossy shells with narrow, elongated apetures.
Letttered olives havea thick shell with a small pointed spire about 1/9th total shell length. Shells that are not faded or beach-worn are covered with overlapping, slightly blurry, brown zigzags that are darkest below the suture and as part of two, broad, spiral bands. Oliva reticularis (the Netted Olive) has no bands and a larger spire of about 1/7th total shell length.
The species' range is from North Carolina to Florida and the Gulf states of North America, including Louisiana and Texas; It also occurs in Mexico, and may also occur in Brazil. The lettered olive typically lives in near-shore waters, on shallow sand flats near inlets. The empty shell is occasionally, or sometimes commonly, washed up onto ocean beaches.
Lettered Olives are carnivores and actively prey on bivalves and crabs.
The lettered olive is the state shell of South Carolina.
Native Americans long ago made necklaces of the handsome shells. In the early 1900s these “Panama Shells” were collected and strung to make portières (door-curtains) to sell to tourists.
www.squidoo.com/lettered-olive-shells