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Capiz lamps
Capiz lamps "Leviathans with a problem"
During certain times in the Philippine winter season, the Koko Head area from Kawaihoa Point to the Blow Hole presents marvelous scuba diving and shelling opportunities. Not long ago a friend and I took advantage of the calm beauty. He knows this area and its underwater landscape as well as most of us know the view from the Pali. On this particular morning as we watched the sea and slight swells, we planned our quest for the Cypraea leviathan Schilder. Looking down the sheer rocky steep from 40 feet above, Deane (my diving buddy) pointed out the small cutaway where the leviathans were "holed up." And he ought to know for he had collected C. leviathan from that area on three previous dives. The hole was impossible and fool-hardy to approach from above, but from underwater, after a 10 minute swim, the hide-out was beautifully inviting.
In places it looked very much like a wall of narrow brownish-red shelves. Rock ledges formed the layers of shelves that were colored with coral, algae and sponge growth. The chasm was about 25 feet deep at its deepest and the top shelves were just barely below the receding water level. It was on these overhanging ledges that the C. leviathan lived in less than 8 feet of white water. Their coloring blended so well with the coloring of the rock ledges I could not spot them until Deane showed one to me. After that I did find them myself. The shells were wedged tight between the shelves - or had they grown as large as the existing room permitted? Often it was quite a chore to pry them out of the rocky nooks.
However, there is one problem. On perhaps three-quarters of the shells collected there is what looks like a slightly cloudy layer of oily bubbles. It isn't oil. It doesn't come off. All the shells were cleaned the same way - freezing and forceful rinsing. The ''film" is more apparent over the top area of the shells than at the margined sides. The other 1/4 of the collected shells are bright and shiny. Yet they all came from this one location. Any suggestions from readers as to what causes the film and what one can do about it?
Mr. John Orr, Bangkok, has presented me a curious monstrosity of Lyncina vitellus (Linnaeus) which has been collected alive under a granite boulder at the island Ko Samet off Bang Pae, Eastern Thailand, in 1968 (coll. Schilder 23132).
The normally shaped shell (71mm long) shows on each side of the dorsum an irregularly shaped area of more than 20mm diameter, in which the uppermost layer of enamel (which is about 1mm thick) has been removed so that the equally smooth second layer becomes visible. The posterior margin of the right area shows a still deeper narrow impression (7mm long) piercing the second layer too. All step-like vertical borders of these areas are softened by a thin layer of accessory enamel deposited after the shell's injury. The two uppermost dorsum and the margins are uniformly suffused by chestnut enamel. All these characters look like healed traces of bites by a large fish.
Besides, there is a blunt projection covered by still darker blackish chestnut enamel on the left upper margin of the hardly recognizable spire: it looks like a barnacle covered in a very early stage of the sea shell's growth.
Ed. Note: The condition of the cowry described by Kay Antrim in her Notes From A Novice (top of page [above]) and those described by Prof. Schilder are apparently not similar. However, both shells were collected under rocks where possible damage to the enamel, and probably the mantle, could occur. I am sure Prof. Schilder would like to have for study a specimen of the sea shells described by Kay.
Capiz lamps Mary Lou Dauber has made her recent diving payoff, too, with a Cyp. chinensis from Kailua Bay in about 30 ft. of water under a coral head and a perfect Casmaria erinaceus on the same dive. Other recent dives have provided her with a dead C. ostergaardi and an unusual C. pulicarius with an exceptionally high spire.
Tom Fair brought up a dead but good specimen of Mitra [Vexillum (Costellaria)] unifasciatum from 70' off Kahi Point.
Cypraea camelopardalis Perry, 1811
This beautiful sea shell can only be found after a hard, long day of searching over a wide area. Over 90 percent are found in areas with slightly sandy bottoms and plenty of coral and rock slabs, with small mossy-like seaweed growing about them. Never have I collected one on the hard reef or over the reef on the inner side of the outer reef. The water is anywhere from one to fifteen feet deep. The average depth was around four feet. The sea shells seem to prefer quiet waters to the rough waters near the reef.
When this sea shell is found, its mantle has always been retracted. The shell is usually exposed under a rock slab or coral, thus making it easy to see when you are in the area. Where you find one of the species you are sure to find others about, if you take your time and really look carefully. These sea shells like to live in large or small colonies in one certain area. This may be the reason that C. camelopardalis are so hard to find and collect. I know of five different places where they may be collected with little trouble, but it was quite awhile before I was able to find these locations. Also, several are usually found together under the same slab. They can also be taken in the presence of other sea shells on the same rocks and coral. Their movement is restricted during the daylight hours. They are never seen about during the day. Night time is the time that the sea shells move about as they travel from place to place. They can be found on top of rocks or coral at night, with their mantles retracted.
Very young specimens are light yellow-tan in color with dark brown bands numbering about three or four around the shell, which is paper thin. The average sea shell is about 50-62mm in length.
I feel strongly about the possibility of a subspecies of C. camelopardalis, one that lacks the white spots on the dorsum area, for you can find many adults with a lack of spots except for a few faint marginal spots (Pat Burgess believes these are simply young sea shells.)
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