Angulate Wentletrap
Epitonium angulatum
Markings and exact colorations may vary.
Photo: Jacob Weston via iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 · cropped & resized · source
A tiny white spiral staircase of a shell, ribbed like a wedding cake.
- Typical size
- 0.5–1 in
- How often it turns up
- Uncommon; easy to miss because of its size
- Collecting
- Usually legal to collect
- Handling
- Safe to handle
Empty shells are fine to keep. Florida allows no live shelling in many counties and parks — if the animal is still inside, photograph it and put it back where you found it.
How to tell it apart
- Pure white, glossy, high-spired
- Strong vertical blade-like ribs on each whorl
- Rounded whorls barely touching each other
Where to find these in Florida
Beaches rated very good or excellent for shells. Each page shows today’s score, the best window and access details.
- Anclote Key Preserve State Park · Tarpon Springs
- Bean Point · Anna Maria
- Beer Can Island (Greer Island) · Longboat Key
- Boca Grande Public Beach · Boca Grande
- Bowman's Beach · Sanibel
- Captiva Beach · Captiva
- Cayo Costa State Park · Cayo Costa
- Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park · Naples
- Don Pedro Island State Park · Cape Haze
- Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park · St. George Island
- Gasparilla Island State Park · Boca Grande
- Gulfside City Park (Algiers Beach) · Sanibel
Found one?
Photograph it and BeachNut ranks the likely matches with a confidence read, then logs it to your collection with the beach and date.
Browsing beaches and the full field guide is free. A free account logs unlimited finds and gives you three photo identifications a day.
Commonly confused with
Bladed WentletrapEpitonium albidum
Bladed wentletrap has thin blade-like ribs that line up down the shell; angulate ribs are thicker with an angled shoulder.
Brown-band WentletrapGyroscala rupicola
Brown-band has a brown spiral band on each whorl; angulate wentletrap is plain white.
More shells in the field guide
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