A Lightning Whelk?

[copperhead]

Hello all,
So it seems I'm a new shell collector! I actually never had any hobbies, and felt like I was quite boring because if it. But this summer I went to visit family in central FL, went snorkeling a couple of times, and found some pretties! I finally have a hobby, lol.
On to my question: Is this a lightning whelk? Or a "sinistral freak?" Or maybe some other species that normally produces sinistral shells?
<a href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1312.jpg" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1312.jpg">http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/p ... CN1312.jpg</a><!-- m --></a>
<a href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1311.jpg" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1311.jpg">http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/p ... CN1311.jpg</a><!-- m --></a>
<a href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1310.jpg" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1310.jpg">http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/p ... CN1310.jpg</a><!-- m --></a>
It's the only one like it that I found, so I'm kind of proud of it <img src="images/smiley/smile.gif" alt="" border="0" /> even if it is pretty weathered. It's about 50mm long.

Oh, and how about this one? I don't know how to classify it, it looks pretty "general" to me:
<a href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1316.jpg" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1316.jpg">http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/p ... CN1316.jpg</a><!-- m --></a>
<a href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1319.jpg" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1319.jpg">http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/p ... CN1319.jpg</a><!-- m --></a>
<a href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1315.jpg" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/palindrome_2006/DSCN1315.jpg">http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j92/p ... CN1315.jpg</a><!-- m --></a>
It's about 125mm long.

Thanks in advance!

[paul monfils]

Hi!  Yes, the first one appears to be a piece of a lightning whelk (Busycon sinistrum), and the second one a knobbed whelk (Busycon carica).

Here's a good reference site for shells of this type:

<a href="http://www.jaxshells.org/busycon.htm" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.jaxshells.org/busycon.htm">http://www.jaxshells.org/busycon.htm</a><!-- m --></a>  <span class="petit">--Last edited by Paul Monfils on 2009-09-12 05:52:16 --</span>

[copperhead]

Cool, thank you much! <img src="smile/thumb.gif" alt="smile/thumb.gif" style="border:0" />