The snail’s shell diameter averages about 22 to 30 millimeters (.87 to 1.18 inches). Each snail’s shell has a unique combination of stripes and colors, so no two are exactly alike. These snails eat ...

“Before you do anything else,” curator Chris Meyer said the minute I arrived at the National Museum of Natural History’s Invertebrate Zoology collection, “you have to vote for beauty.” He led me ...

Robert Muir works in the cultural heritage and tourism industry. Nathan Brooks English does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit ...

When I was a preschooler, a relative gave me a beautiful triton shell. Knobby and pale-rose on the outside, kitten’s-mouth pink on the inside, the shell was a palm-size wonder to my 4-year-old self. I ...

For me, there’s no more resonant image from a Florida childhood than this: You’re on a bright beach, sun blazing, clouds so big they must surely be the home of the gods. The roar of the waves ...