Coquinas, not Periwinkles

 

Atlantic Coquinas on Florida's panhandle shores.

The Atlantic Coquina (from the clam Donax variabilis) are small and highly beneficial bi-valves that live most of their the "swash zone," the highly active area at the shoreline where waves crash and wash up on the beach. These little guys use small tubes called "siphons" to take in seawater and filter out.

Someone in the south once called them periwinkles, and the some of the old timers ran with it...however, knowledge is power, so we like to call attention to these bright tiny shells.  Periwinkles are small snail like gastropods that live around rocky shorelines and salty marshes and do not resemble Coquinas.

Atlantic Coquinas come in all shades of colors and patterns including plaid squares and stripes. Scientists believe this rainbow of colors (called extreme polychromism) confuses predators. It prevents shorebirds from memorizing a single look to easily hunt them.

Coquina's make the best butterflies! 

I really love collecting them after a good storm.  Mostly shorebirds and crabs find them as a tasty part of their diet once they've been beached, leaving a nice clean butterfly like shell.  While they may be similar in their colors and patterns, to find two that are completely identical is very hard to do.  Most of the time, they'll be close enough, but still not fully identical.  One of my favorite creations (Coquina Clips) come from these tiny treasures. If you love crafting, these beautiful little "butterflies" are the best to use for unique creations!  You will see them in my resin art and jewelry too! 

These little treasures are very common on our coastlines here from Indian Pass to Mexico Beach.  It is almost a sure thing to find them on our tours and I love to compare the colors with my clients.  What would you do with these tiny beauties?