ABOUT OUR LOGO SHELL, Siratus beauii

Siratus beauii, (Fischer & Bernardi, 1857) Beau's Murex

How did this shell come to be the logo of the Sarasota Shell Club?

At the time the club was in the process of forming, there were a couple of local captains who took their boats into the Gulf of Mexico to dredge in deep waters for shells. One of the most beautiful shells brought up in those drags was the Beau's Murex, and the Sarasota Shell Club adopted it for their logo.

There are two forms, a slender one with sharp spines and the "winged" form, which is our logo and is shown in the graphic at left. The "winged" form is by far the rarer of the two.

Although there are no commercial shell dredging operations in the Gulf of Mexico at the present time, you can sometimes still find Siratus beauii in some older collections, and you also can obtain them from some dealers.