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The focus of these studies has been on the island of Abaco and its off-lying cays. Most maps still show Great Abaco and Little Abaco separated by a narrow channel. In reality, however, the two islands have been connected by a short causeway for more than fifty years, and in current practice the name Abaco includes them both. In fact the island is now separated politically into northern, central and southern Abaco, without reference to “Great” and “Little”.   Abaco also includes the outlying small islands (cays), and collectively the entire area is often referred to as the Abacos.

It is not surprising, when looking at a map of the Bahamas (below), that there are species occurring elsewhere in the Bahamas that have not yet been recorded from Abaco.  Very little serious collecting has been done around the southern islands of Mayaguana and Inagua, for example, which are doubtless home to numerous additional species. More surprising, perhaps, is that there are a number of species that are not shared by the neighboring islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama (GBI). In some cases this is quite easily explained - for example the rocky promontories that are colonized by Fissurella nodosa in Abaco are absent from Grand Bahama, where that species is not found. Less easy to explain is the apparent absence of such species as Eulithidium adamsi from Grand Bahama that occur commonly in Abaco.  Likewise there are numerous species that have been recorded from Grand Bahama that have not yet been found in Abaco. Many such species were collected by Jack Worsfold in about 1970-1984, and I had an opportunity to photograph some of these in the early 1980s. The photos that resulted from these sessions were of inconsistent quality, but I’ll be adding most of them to this page over the coming months, together with photos of species from other sources. All of the figured shells were collected by Jack Worsfold unless otherwise noted.

                                                                                                                      Colin Redfern

Additional Records

Cadulus podagrinus Henderson, 1920.

Length 3.75mm. One of eleven shells collected off GBI in 300m by Ben Rose in 1984.

Henderson aptly described the shell of this species as “much inflated, and suddenly contracting into a short pinched-in dorso-ventrally flattened neck”.

Previously known only from Antigua, the type locality.

Macromphalina worsfoldi Rolán & Rubio, 1998. Diameter 1.7mm. White.

The only published record of this species refers to the type series of 23 shells collected from beach drift, GBI.

One of those shells is figured above, including a basal view not provided in the original description.

Mitromica cosmani Rosenberg & Salisbury, 2003. 6.3mm. White with spiral rows of orange-brown patches. Holotype. One of 21 shells collected in about 25m off GBI in 1979-82. Also recorded from Eleuthera, Andros, New Providence and the Berry Islands.

Pyrunculus floridensis (Dall, 1927)

Length 4mm. Collected off GBI in 300m by Ben Rose in 1984.

Holotype measures 5.5mm, collected off Fernandina, Florida. Conspicuous columellar fold not present on juvenile shells.

Cyclostrema amabile (Dall, 1889). Diameter 6mm. White.  Live in sediment from 25m off GBI in 1980.

Spinosipella agnes Simone & Cunha, 2008. Immature 4.5mm valve. Dredged off Lucaya, GBI in 300m,  May, 1985. Prickles on ribs help to distinguish Spinosipella fom Verticordia.

Inella apexbilirata Rolán & Fernández-
Garcés, 2008

3.5mm. Holotype. One of five shells dredged from 300m off GBI in October, 1984.
The shell is whitish, and the specific name refers to the two spiral cords that begin at the tip of the protoconch.

Chama sinuosa  Broderip, 1835.
Diameter 45mm. Collected live from rocks near shore at Stella Maris, Long Island by Ed Bayer. Species lacks crenulations at inner margin of valves.  

Cubalaskeya nivea (Faber, 2007).
7.25mm. One of several shells collected off GBI in about 25m.
First known record from the Bahamas. Previously recorded maximum size  6mm.

I am grateful to Marien Faber for the correct identification of this shell.

Heliacus worsfoldi Quinn, 1981.

Height 7mm, width 5.5mm.

In 12.2m off GBI. Live on a species of wire coral (Cirrapathes sp) that was encrusted with a grey zoanthid.

Zeidora bigelowi Farfante, 1947. 4mm. White. One of three shells collected in 25-53m off GBI in 1980. Two others dredged in 300m in 1984. Note Crepidula-like interior shelf.

Caecum debile Verrill & Bush, 1900.
2mm. White. Jack Worsfold collected this shell in 25m off GBI in 1982. Two years later he collected 134 live specimens from green algae in a canal on GBI.

For a photo of the holotype see Johnson (1989) in Occasional Papers on Mollusks, pl. 17, fig. 7.
Click here for comments on this taxon by Harry Lee.

Glyphostoma herminea Bartsch, 1934.

8mm. Dredged from 300m off GBI in 1984.

Known from Florida to Brazil, but not previously recorded from the Bahamas.

Cadulus tersus Henderson, 1920.
Length 3mm. One of 5 shells dredged off GBI in 300m in 1984. A live specimen was also collected from the same depth.

The holotype measures 3.1mm and was collected off Barbados in 33 fathoms. Henderson recorded one other specimen in the USNM collection, collected off Barbados in 40-75 fathoms.

Niso aeglees Bush, 1885.

5.5mm. Creamy white with brown line at sutures and periphery of body whorl

Dredged from 500m off GBI in 1985.

Volvulella minuta (Bush, 1885).
3.5mm.
One of three shells dredged by Ben Rose off GBI in 300m, June 1984.
For taxonomic comments see Lee (2009, “Marine Shells of Northeast Florida”, p. 155).

Pilsbryspira nodata (C. B. Adams, 1850).

Not measured.

One of a number of specimens collected on GBI . Most were collected live at night in very shallow water.

P. albomaculata (d’Orbigny, 1847) is a synonym.

Glyphoturris diminuta
(C.B.Adams, 1850).
8mm. Grey-brown.
One of three specimens collected live under a rock at the edge of a canal on GBI.
Identification confirmed by Virginia Maes July, 1982.

Cosmotriphora arnoldoi Faber & Moolenbeek, 1991.

3mm. White, with orange patches. Protoconch brown. Beach drift, GBI.

Holotype and one paratype were collected from Bonaire and Curaçao.

Monogamus  minibulla (Olsson & McGinty, 1958). Maximum diameter about 1mm. Figured shell from beach drift on GBI, but also found living there intertidally on sea urchins. Originally described in genus Rosenia, but referred to Monogamus by Warén & Moolenbeek (1989).

Opalia crenata (Linnaeus, 1758).
9 mm. This is a rare species in the northern Bahamas. The figured shell was collected crabbed in 12 m off GBI.

Eulima fulvocincta C.B. Adams, 1850.
4mm.

Collected from GBI by Jack Worsfold. Spiral color band below periphery of body whorl and non-

constricted apex help to distinguish this species from E. auricincta.

Miralda sp ?
3.5mm.

Collected in 25m off GBI  in 1981.

Pyramidellid genus uncertain.

Fargoa sp.
3mm.

Numerous specimens collected on GBI near entrance to sabellid worm tubes in canals in less than 1m.   One emitted yellow fluid when disturbed.
 

Terebra sp.
4.25mm.

One of two similar shells collected by Ben Rose from 300m off GBI in 1984.

Turbonilla sp.
9.5mm.

This unusually long, white Turbonilla was collected off Freeport, GBI in 10m.

Schwatrziella catesbyana (d’Orbigny, 1842).
4mm. White, with faint brown band just below suture. Live-collected on GBI, where it commonly lives in algae or under rocks in less than 1m in canals.

Hesperisternia karinae (Usticke, 1959).   Not measured.

One of three specimens found living under rocks in 9m at GBI.