On Saturday, Jesse, Rubio, and I explored a few sites for future sampling.  While surveying one site near Medouie Creek, I discovered an interesting object on the shore of Polpis Harbor.  Jesse informed me that this was a displaced egg case of a whelk.  Inside one of the broken capsules were a few of the juveniles that had failed to emerge.  Unsure if these tiny babies still had a chance at survival, I returned the case to the water.  Later at the house, still fascinated by the discovery, I was determined to identify the species of the whelk.  Based on the spiral structure of the egg case string and the thick coin shaped capsules it contained, I determined it to be Busycon carica, or a knobbed whelk.  I look forward to learning more about the species on Nantucket, and helping to preserve them as we work to understand their ecosystems.