|
|
Hair
Hair Ed deVaul found a Conus spiceri and two Harpa amouretta off Makua at 80' and Al Kekoa has brought up six more C. tessellata from 60-70 feet in Moanalua Bay over four weekends.
The South China Sea is a mecca for shell collectors, with many interesting shells from that area coming into our hands through Formosan fishermen and shell dealers.
We have received such rare sea shells as Erosaria guttata (Gmelin), Schilderia hirasei (Roberts), S. teramachii (Kuroda), S. langfordi (Kuroda) and Gratiadusta hungerfordi (Sowerby). Recently we got a lovely new cowry from the South China Sea. Schilderia sakuraii, described by Habe in the Bulletin of the Biogeographical Society of Japan, vol. 24, no. 10, pp. 67-69. The nearest ally is S. hirasei, but it is larger in size and has paler coloration than our new species. We have examined four specimens of S. sakuraii.
The shell is thick and heavy with rounded humped back. Dorsal surface is covered with brown clouds of densely set transverse lines and bars divided into two parts by the white line of the mantle.
In "The Living sea shells" describing Cypraea asellus, Dr. C. M. (Pat) Burgess comments: "This strikingly different small species stands out in any company. The alternating jet black and pure white dorsal bands are unmistakable." We agree with Dr. Pat that this is a beautiful shell.
Shown in the above picture are three highly unusual specimens of this small sea shell along with a standard shell (left specimen). Then there is one specimen with a solid black dorsum. Another has four black bands instead of the normal three. And at right is a brown rather than jet black shell and also with an odd pattern. These shells are all from the private collection of Iain Gower and were live collected by him in the waters of Guadalcanal.
In speaking of the rarity of these shells, Gower tells us they were selected from over twenty-five thousand specimens and were the only ones found of each type. Gower is a well known shell dealer who lives at Guadalcanal, British Solomon Islands.
Erronea barclayi has been established by Reeve in 1857 by describing an unique shell said to come from Diego Garcia, Chagos Is.; this holotype is preserved in coll. Saul in Cambridge, England (see Schilder 1932, Zoolog. Anzeiger 100:171).
The following hundred years no second specimen has been discovered, though in many collections other sea shell species erroneously have been labeled E. barclayi.
Hair Which veligers can one expect to find in turbid, inshore areas? Crucibulum spinosum, various species of Cerithiopsis, an occasional Theodoxus neglectus, a few species of Triphora and Mitrella, a columbellid. Also one finds one or two species of Kermia and Daphnella (Tarridae) and vermetids – especially Petaloconchus and Vermetus. In clear, offshore (not oceanic) areas, one finds Serpulorbis, a vermetid, most abundant. Abundant nerites, cypraeids, thaisids, and an occasional echinospira5 belonging to Lamellaria or Trivia are also associated with these areas. In March, Philippia oxytropis, Natica marochiensis and Strombus maculatus are found in greater numbers than during the remainder of the year. Although a few species of miters, cones and sea shells have larvae in the plankton during all months, they are especially abundant during the period from May through September. Both the veligers and juveniles of oceanic pteropods such as Creseis and Atlanta are frequently in the plankton of clear, offshore areas. In the intermediate waters, a mixture of both groups occurs with the addition of Nassarius dermestina, Littorina pintado, Heliacus variegatus and various limpets.
A composite of photographs of a sample of veligers which occur in the plankton of Philippine waters is presented on the insert. Camera lucida drawings of representatives of the major families are shown on page 4.
It is hoped that this article will encourage the reader to scan shells in search of protoconchs in the many collections assembled by members of Philippine Shell. If they are encountered, much information could be compiled by members of the Society which could yield important clues about the larva of that species. A good hand lens can yield the following information: number of whorls in the protoconch before the abrupt change in shell character due to metamorphosis, color of protoconch, sculpture or lack thereof on the protoconch, presence or absence of a beak and general size and shape of the protoconch. It might even be in the interests of the Philippine Shell to assemble their own shell collection with specimens hearing protoconchs for the use of future investigators who study larval biology. In any event, an appreciation of larval shells will augment the esthetic appreciation of adult shells.
Footnotes:
1 a molluscan larval stage; shell and velum present, foot not yet functional in crawling.
2 Thorson, G. 1950. "Reproductive and larval ecology of marine bottom invertebrates." Biol. Rev., 25: 1-45.
3 available from the Philippines Institute of Marine Biology, Kaneohe, Oahu, Attn: Mr. David Hashimoto.
4 Kay, E.A., Ph.D. dissertation, University of Philippines.
5 for a discussion of the echinospira larva, see Fretter, V. and A. Graham. 1962. British Prosobranch Molluscs, Ray Society, London, p. 467
hair,phjilippine shells,pokalets,white clam,sigay,wallets shell,supplier,trokka,clams raw,hair
Hair black lip shell-madebelts troca assorted shell luhuanus white abalone component part clams brown lip capiz raw capiz shell sheashells brownlip shells jewelries natural body jewelry phjilippine shells hair accessory products ornament.
hair
Shell Jewellery
 
|
