Striate Bubble
Bulla occidentalis (A. Adams, 1850)/ Bulla striata (Röding, 1798)
Family Bullidae
The Striate Bubble or Western Striate Bubble is occasionally found on S. Hutchinson Island beaches. Usually it has holes or is broken in half.
A rare complete bubble (S. Hutchinson Island- January, 2021)
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Family Bullidae
Bulla occidentalis
A. Adams, 1850
Western Striate Bubble
Shell size to 25 mm; shell barrel-shaped, smooth, thin, usually fragile. Spire completely sunken. Aperture larger than body whorl, wider on anterior part of shell. Color cream to light-brownish with darker irregular brown markings. Foot and mantle slightly translucent, yellowish to greenish with irregular white flecks. Cephalic shield posteriorly with broad, triangular, overlapping pallial lobes. Tentacles inrolled, siphon-like. Opaque-white patch surrounds each eye. Eyes lie on dorsal surface of cephalic shield. Animal completely envelops the shell but can retract completely into it. A burrower, living in sandy-mud substrate. Apparently feeds on mollusks. Egg masses are gelatinous with tiny greenish-yellow eggs. Photo of live snail taken by Ángel Valdés on Sanibel Causeway. Photo of egg mass taken by Linda Shockley near Marco Island.