White Baby Ear
Sinum perspectivum (Say, 1831)
Family Naticidae
The White Baby Ear (also Common baby ear- see below) is not an easy shell to find on S. Hutcxhinson Island beaches. In several months I've found 20 or so baby ears. On the average one can be found on every other shelling trip.
Enlarged pic of a White Baby Ear (S. Hutchinson Island- January 2021)
Four Baby's Ears: White and Brown (S. Hutchinson Island during December 2020/January 2021)
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Common Baby's Ear:
Well-Named Naticidae
By Patricia B. Mitchell.
The Common Baby's Ear is roundish in outline and 1-1½ inches in diameter. It is almost flat with a large aperture, or opening, and a curve like a human ear. The shell is pure white unless it has been discolored from prolonged contact with debris or chemicals in the sand. The inside of the shell is usually pearly-white.
Despite the rather delicate appearance of the Common Baby's Ear, and its sweet name, Sinum perspectivum is a carnivorous snail, as are all members of the Moon Shell family of which it is a part.
The Common Baby's Ear may grace beaches from Maryland to Brazil, and in Bermuda.
Notes
The shells pictured here were found at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
For more information on the Common Baby's Ear see:
R. Tucker Abbott and Percy A. Morris, Peterson Field Guides: Shells of the Atlantic & Gulf Coasts & the West Indies.
Classification: Family Naticidae; Superfamily Naticoidea; Infraorder Discopoda; Suborder Neotaenioglossa; Order Caenogastropoda.
Scientific nomenclature is subject to change, due to ongoing research. The above classification corresponds to that published by the Conchologists of America, Inc.
Digital formatting is by Jonathan Mitchell.