Shell club to hold monthly meeting
The Sanibel-Captiva Shell Club will meet on April 13 at 2 p.m. at the Sanibel Recreation Center, at 3880 Sanibel-Captiva Road, Sanibel, and virtually via Zoom for members.
The guest speaker will be Dr. Rick Batt on “Cephalopods Past and Present.” Cephalopods include mollusks, such as squid, octopus and chambered nautilus — survivors of more than 500 million years of change. Nautiloids, ammonoids and ammonites have proven invaluable in both the dating and correlation of rock sequences and interpretation of ancient marine environments.
Batt started collecting and studying modern seashells and fossils when he was 5 years old. He earned four degrees in geology and spent most of his nearly 30 years of teaching geology at Buffalo State College. Batt was also involved in researching the geologic history of Niagara Falls and its gorge, and he visited elementary, middle and charter schools to promote science using the topic of dinosaurs. Batt authored and illustrated a middle-school level science book entitled “What do you Mean, Dinosaurs didn’t live in Hawai’i?” Now retired, he resides in Cape Coral, where he curates his collection of more than 7,000 specimen seashells, as well as fossils and other specimens of scientific interest.
Prior to the meeting, a silent auction will be held at 1:30 p.m.
The meeting is open to the public.
Members will receive the Zoom link via email.
For more information, visit http://sanibelshellclub.com.