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Capis raw
Capis raw In the November issue of Sean Raynon Sabado, on page 5, we mentioned that Elizabeth Kinloch was making a trek across about 2,500 miles of Africa. As busy as she was Elizabeth took time to send some striking photos of live sea shells collected in the Dar Es Salaam area of East Africa, the westernmost extension of the Indo-Pacific molluskan province.
Of the shells, she says, "A mixed bag, typical of the good days of shelling in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Living species in this slide include Cypraea lamarcki [left], C. lynx [top], C. vitellus dama [bottom center], C. carneola sowerbyi [upper right], C. cribraria comma [center] , C. limacina [lower right] and, now showing the jet black mantle, Trivia oryza [right, middle]."
Although mollusk shells have been collected and their intricate designs admired for centuries, they remain an enigma to most of us. The adaptive significance of elaborate shell ornamentation baffles us, especially in mollusks covered with dense periostraca so that the pattern is obscured. There is undoubtedly no single solution to this puzzle, as could be expected of a complex biological system. That is, some shell patterns may have obvious adaptive significance, for example the cryptic (or camouflage) coloration of many limpets and land snails which are subject to intensive visual predation by birds. Other species may have shells which have no manifest correlation with environmental factors, even though the ornamentation may be very intricate.
In studying the molluscan shell, one can think of it as conveying a certain amount of information. The information, however, is coded and it is this "code" which the investigator must decipher. The information recorded in the shell is comparatively permanent, a characteristic not shared by many other organisms. Thus, we know from the examination of fossil shells that most of the same sculpture and color patterns we observe presently existed as long ago as the Paleozoic and are fundamental traits of most molluscan groups.
The first step in deciphering the shell "code" is to ascertain the basic types of ornamentation. This involves the measurement of several variables; 1) shape, 2) size, 3) ornamentation, 4) intensity of pigment or degree of sculpture and 5) persistence of the ornamentation through time (temporal pattern).
Capis raw Where to begin? So many islands. So many sand bars. So many shoals. The tide was on the ebb and we eventually chose a reasonably promising looking spit of exposed boulders and coral that formed part of a small uninhabited island. Initially I was discouraged by the cloudy waters that lapped in small wavelets against half-exposed slabs of dead coral and rocks. I need not have been. After only twenty minutes of turning over pieces of coral in ankle-deep water I was rewarded by a flash of vivid orange the mantle of a Cypraea saulae siasiensis. I continued to look for a possible mate, but my day was already complete and I couldn't expect my luck to go too far. Besides, the sun was setting and the typical swift dusk of the tropics would soon be upon us. After finding a pair of handsome and very dark Cypraea lamarcki redimita under a nearby rock, I decided to call it a day.
Joe Honda, diving for fish in Kaneohe Bay found a fine specimen of Strombus hawaiensis. Even though the color of the shell has turned orange, it is still in perfect condition.
Joe Reid and Stanley Takahashi had some Cymatium collecting days recently. They were looking for the second Cym. pyrum (Tom Richert has the first) and C. gutturnium (Arch Harrison has the first of this one) but the best (?) they could do was a C. vespacium each. Collected off Waikiki Beach. Joe also found a recently dead specimen of C. labiosum and two C. clandestinum.
Sean Raynon Sabado Editor E. R. Cross finally has his deep water dredge going from his 40 foot boat Joli-Jac. On the first cast, in just over 200 feet of water, he collected, among other things, a C. vespacium, a one inch long Mitra emersoni, plus three species of Turrid new to his collection. Also plenty of cones, including a shallow-water(?) Conus quercinus from 225 feet of water. Coral rubble bottom.
New Philippine Shell member Mike Smith, diving out Kahe Point way, collected a nice, recently dead, Conus bullatus. When Mike found out how rare C. bullatus is in Philippines he yelled, "I've been born again." So it goes Mike.
A little farther along the coast of Oahu, off Nanakuli this time, Major S. C. Williams found a Cypraea tessellata in 40 feet of water, Then, satisfied with his day, he was swimming back to shore when he spotted (and collected, naturally) a C. tigris. Guess good things do come in bunches.
I don't spend all my time answering phones and making notes on recent finds. Once in a while I also go diving; and even collect shells occasionally. And sometimes loose them. I was skin-diving in about 8 feet off Waikiki when I spotted the first Polinices opacus I had seen. I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. On the way to shore, the shell either crawled or washed out and no more P. opacus.
Visiting Philippine Shell member Twila Bratcher (See Sean Raynon Sabado for September, 1967 and January, 1968) hit it lucky with the weather on her recent visit. On a double diving day weekend she went out with the Harrisons. Twila collected many of her specialty shells, a fine Terebra thaanumi being the prize item. Twila, a Terebra specialist, found one shell which was a puzzle to her and to the Harrisons. Also she collected many of the less rare Terebras such as T. funiculata, T. lanceata, T. casta, T. argus, T. brachigyra, and by way of Olive Schoenberg's collection, a T. achates. Twila also collected a fine specimen of Cymatium rubeculum. And from Editor Cross' collection, a live-collected Cymatium clandestinum.
While diving with Twila, I collected a Conus acutangulus from 80 feet, a C. nusatella from a coral cliff in 40 feet, and a Cypraea tigris, a real purple prize, sitting right out in the open, in about 45 feet. The next day I also found a Cassis cornuta on rocky bottom.
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