After a 24 hour soak

Our first pull on a pot and we were excited to see this huge conch clinging to the side!

We later identified it as:

 The horse conch (Pleuroploca gigantea), also known as the giant band shell, has been Florida's official state shell since 1969. This shell is native to the marine waters around Florida and can grow to a length of twenty-four inches. Young horse conchs have orange-colored shells; adults have orange apertures.

        We also caught our first crab of the season, not huge but it looks tiny next to the horse conch!

            There was also bunches of theses "mud snails" feeding on the bait in the crab pot

Betsy identifies what we found in our shell book (also note her first missing tooth!).