Identification ? volute

[tmoads]

I live in South Florida & have been collecting shells for years from both the east & west coast of Florida.  Last weekend I found this shell snokeling off of Hollywood beach.  Through some research I'm pretty sure it's a volute, but have no idea what type, where it came from & how it wound up on Hollywood beach.  Any help would is appreciated.  Great site.  Thanks.  Hopefully the links will work, you may have to copy & paste

<a href="http://www.badongo.com/pic/5920900" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.badongo.com/pic/5920900">http://www.badongo.com/pic/5920900</a><!-- m --></a>
<a href="http://www.badongo.com/pic/5920908" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.badongo.com/pic/5920908">http://www.badongo.com/pic/5920908</a><!-- m --></a>
<a href="http://www.badongo.com/pic/5920912" target="_blank"><!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.badongo.com/pic/5920912">http://www.badongo.com/pic/5920912</a><!-- m --></a>

[paul monfils]

Yes it's a volute, the commonest volute in the world, the Bat Volute, Cymbiola vespertilio.  This species is abundant from the Philippines to Australia, and is exported by the ton for the craft and tourist industries.  There will be a few specimens of this in just about every tourist shop shell basket - which is presumably where your specimen came from.  It's a very variable species, in color, pattern and shape.  <span class="petit">--Last edited by Paul Monfils on 2009-05-09 23:45:13 --</span>

[tmoads]

Are you saying someone bought this shell & threw it in the ocean for someone to find because it is not indigenous to south Florida?

[paul monfils]

Yes, that's my best guess.  At least three times previously someone has posted a shell found on a Florida beach that came from the Philippine area, or in one case from the area around India.  I myself have found two Indo-Pacific shells on the beach on Cape Cod, Massachuestts. In any tourist area by the ocean, every little shop has plastic-wrapped baskets of these kinds of shells for sale.  Tourists buy them, sort through them, throw away those they don't want, or the kids just drop them on the beach.  Incidentally, many of these tourists who know nothing about shells purchase these thinking they were collected locally.  <span class="petit">--Last edited by Paul Monfils on 2009-05-10 03:48:17 --</span>

[tmoads]

Interesting. Here I was pretty excited with what I thought was a special find.  Thanks for your help. Appreciate it.