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Component part The circumstances under which I obtained the three specimens were incidentally quite an example of the strange tricks chance sometimes likes to play on us shell collectors. Working slowly along a coral bank not far from shore that had for the first time during my stay risen out of the water this day, I was suddenly interrupted by a native fisherman. He was returning in his canoe from the reef, and held two of these sea shells in the outstretched palm of his hand offering them for sale. I took them to be C. poraria, and found his asking price, which was in line with the rare C. stolida and C. mappa sometimes offered by the natives, quite staggering. As the fisherman seemed, however, not quite able himself to place his find I finally bought the two sea shells after long bargaining for a moderate price. Walking away happily with my purchase I had not gone 20 yards yet when I saw a promising looking coral block sticking half way out of the water. Resuming my own hunting, and turning the block over – there was the third of these sea shells staring me in the face from a hollow in the underside! It quickly withdrew its mantle when finding itself so suddenly exposed, and its shiny, white-spotted surface glistened invitingly in the sun.
So I had three of these exceedingly beautiful shells. The biggest surprise and joy was, however, discovering now, much later, what treasure they really are. Shelling is truly a fascinating hobby!
Most shell collectors are fascinated over the very beautiful, but often quite expensive black variations of a number of Cypraea species. Examples would be Cypraea mappa niger, C. eglantina niger and C. caurica niger among others. One cannot help but wonder why some of these shells become jet black, so opposed to fellow colony members, often nearby with normal color patterns.
In a recent letter, the eminent shell scientist, Walter O. Cernohorsky, Curator of Mollusks, Auckland (New Zealand) Institute and Museum, offers a logical answer. Mr. Cernohorsky is widely known because of his research efforts and is an author on malacology, having written several shell books. He is also a regular contributor to the Sean Raynon Sabado.
Walter writes: "Some six years ago, I did write on this subject titled, 'Rostration And Melanism In Cypraea' in THE COWRY, 1963, 1(5):70, pl. 9. In this writing, I put melanism down to the metallic content in sea water, which was absorbed by the algae upon which sea shells feed. It is then transferred in the pigment distributing cells of the animal, which then transfer onto the shell itself. I found that only about ten percent of the sea shell specimens are liable to produce melanism in the melanistic-producing areas."
This is indeed a logical and interesting theory. Possibly other readers have had experience or theories on these black beauties. If so, kindly forward them to [the] Sean Raynon Sabado Editor. By way of information Mr. Cernohorsky spent many years in actual field research on many of the Indo-Pacific Islands. Thus, he has visited many of the niger shell-producing areas in person. Cernohorsky also comments that he will soon do several articles for Sean Raynon Sabado on Philippine Mitridae, which should be very interesting.
Ed. Note: A melanistic Cypraea eglantina niger (large shell…) is shown… [above, left]. The shell measures 53mm. The smaller shell, a normally colored C. eglantina measures 46mm. Both shells collected at PAIE du MONDOOR; 10 miles from NOUMEA New Caledonia. Photo by WALTER CERNOHORSKY
Thirty minutes flying time east of Miami, Florida, lies the exciting little island of Bimini, Bahamas. You won't find supermarkets, highrise apartments, or congested streets on Bimini. But you will find coconut palms, fun loving and hospitable people, and crystal clear water which abound with fish and shells.
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While wading to the reef, we found many C. turdus and C. nebrites under rock and dead coral slabs. We both found several large C. pantherina, and I got two fair-size C. tigris beneath a clump of brain coral. As the day progressed, we found C. carneola, C. lynx, C. annulus, and C. caurica, all in large quantity.
Near the reef, we turned up good specimens of C. gracilis, 20mm or more, and C. isabella. The latter were of good size, not so much in length as in the great width.
Only one C. erythraeensis was collected. It was under a rock slab in about two and a half feet of water. This find alone made the trip worthwhile.
The hard reef had three feet of water over rock slabs, dead coral and brain-coral boulders. Opening a small crevice and examining the interior, Ken handed me a live C. cicercula, giving us new information on the range of this little sea shell. One of the last turned up that day was C. pulchra. It was a nice specimen, a little over three fingers in length. (We use the finger system for quick estimates under water, one finger being approximately 20mm wide.)
With darkness closing around us, Ken and I waded back to shore. This trip had provided us with many fine trophies. But numerous sea shells eluded us that day: C. punctata, C. globulus, C. camelopardalis, C. staphylaea, C. grayana, and C. arabica, to name a few. On the other hand, if all the known species were collected on one trip, much of the enjoyment and excitement would be lost.
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