The New Junonia Craze

By Amy Bentley

Junonia shell on the beach (vikee214/Shutterstock.com).

It’s well known in the shelling world that finding an empty junonia seashell is a beachcomber’s dream. The Scaphella junonia, commonly known as a junonia, is a rare, deep-water creature, and few beachcombers are lucky enough to find one of their spotted and highly coveted shells at the shore. Beachcombers often search for years and never find a junonia shell.

The junonia craze has exploded in Southwest Florida in recent years as junonia finds posted in shelling groups on social media—with hundreds of commenters offering their congratulations—has become a regular occurrence. Beachcombers have been finding junonias up and down the Gulf Coast and posting their finds on social media. One lucky woman found two in one day on Keewaydin Island.

Fellow junonia-obsessed beachcombers online want to know everything. What beach? Was it in the water? Was it on shore? Did it roll in a wave right up to you? Others question when they’ll ever find their junonia, or, when their junonia will find them. Some argue over whether finding a small piece of a junonia versus an entire shell gets you into the “J Club,” a make-believe group of people who have found junonia shells.

There’s speculation that Hurricane Ian in September 2022 and Hurricane Idalia in August 2023 stirred up the Gulf so that more of these deep-water shells were brought closer to shore by wave action. José H. Leal, Ph.D., Science Director and Curator at the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum on Sanibel Island, said last November that there’s no data or shell counts to back up this theory, but it makes sense.

Jessica DeLoach began shelling regularly in Southwest Florida in July 2023 and has found seven junonias, including two in one day. A lot of people told her she’d never find one, but Jessica found her first junonia only two months after she started looking.

“It’s very exciting. It’s been awesome,” says Jessica, who offered a theory about why so many junonias are appearing at beaches: “I do wonder, is this someone’s big collection that washed out to sea and now we’re finding it? Did someone dump all their shells in the ocean? It’s a mystery, but it’s been amazing.”

Jessica and her junonia shell finds. Amy’s junonia find.

Jessica’s success isn’t just due to luck; she ups the odds. Jessica works hard at shelling and snorkeling—getting out there very early in the morning even in cold weather—and she stays for hours. “And I go a lot. I go at least three days a week.”

I had been shelling regularly for about four years in Southwest Florida and had never found a junonia. In December, I finally found not one junonia but two, three weeks apart. I found the first buried in a shell bed on a day when the water was clear and calm. I noticed a few telltale dark spots among a cluster of broken shells, dug a bit, and out popped a junonia. I found my second on a cold, windy day after a rainstorm. The tide was coming in furiously, cutting a deep ledge into the shoreline where shells were washing in and out. The beach was empty except for one other woman shelling near me. I stepped into the ledge and in less than a minute, a slightly broken junonia rolled up to my feet and I grabbed it.

When I called out to my husband, “I found a junonia!” the woman next to me said bitterly, “I’ve been shelling here for an hour,” and walked away without saying another word. I have read that occasionally a beachcomber will encounter this sort of “it should have been me” behavior at the beach. It seems the increase of junonia findings and the frequent social media posts have made shell collecting more competitive and driven the junonia obsession to new heights.

The new “J” craze reminds us all to celebrate a fellow beachcomber who turns up a beautiful discovery, whether it’s a junonia, another beautiful shell, or a stunning piece of sea glass. All the while, keep a positive attitude that one day your junonia will roll up to your feet and find you.

Learn more about seashells

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