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Heishi
Heishi The rather rare allied cowry Pellasinia deflexa (Sowerby 1832), was first collected by Mr. Neville M. Jennings in North Queensland in December, 1967. Since then other specimens have been collected offering Neville the opportunity to study and photograph this interesting group. The shells range from about 15mm to nearly 25mm in length. There is considerable color variation with the shells ranging from white through shades of blue to an almost violet hue with some shades of rose and light brown - (See photo 1, 2 & 3... [right].) The mantle is nearly transparent with tinges of color along the fringes and in the tentacles. (see photo 1... [right].)
A more common Indo-Pacific allied cowry, Volva brevirostris, (Photo 4... [right]), is also collected in the North Queensland area with a near record size of 2-1/4" length being recorded. V. birostris is known from Japan and other areas. It is usually a dark brown color.
A sudden trip Down Under to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia came my lucky way recently. What a time I've had sight-seeing, making friends and especially shell collecting!
At the end of August seven of us left for Sydney to attend the 6th World Orchid Conference. Our first stop was at Nandi, Fiji, where we landed in the very cool A.M. – 4: 15 to be exact. We were met by an Indian driver who took us over a roller coaster washboard road to the small island of Yanuca.
Yanuca Island (pronounced Yanutha) has a horseshoe-shaped white sand beach of about six miles and the shelling seems unlimited. It's a favorite sport of the hotel guests and you can even rent shoes to shell in. A week before we arrived, one guest had found a live Golden Cowry [Cypraea aurantium] during a low tide and the hotel gave a real swinging party to celebrate.
As the sun came up I changed into beach clothes and went shelling. It was high tide but even so in fifteen minutes I picked up beach specimen of Cypraea moneta, C. cylindrica and C. carneola. Also Conus generalis, C. ebraeus, C. pulicarius, an unidentified Terebra, good Strombus maculatus, Oliva erythrostoma, black rose-mouthed Murex, countless bivalves including Cardium, also specimens of Natica and Turbo.
Heishi Here I found myself one early morning in July 1966, after a long flight from Germany and a one hour's drive by Landrover from Mombasa, to spend a three weeks' holiday exploring an underwater world which had until now virtually remained untouched by human hands. My first swim, immediately after breakfast, convinced me that I had found a shell collector's "El Dorado."
As it turned out, tidal differences were rather large here, 15 to 16 ft. and at times even more, as the tide and wind-driven seas pile up high against the continental shore, and the reef gives little protection from heavy rollers from the open ocean, stir up the silty bottom, reducing underwater visibility to zero. This was a profound effect on the local fauna. Living coral is rare inside the lagoon and confined to a few deeper parts with a hard coral substratum. Most of the shallower parts are overgrown with thick algae meadows on which sea-stars in all imaginable colors seem on first sight the predominant form of life, replaced nearer the reef, on rubble bottom, by large colonies of spiny black sea urchins which make walking or swimming at low tide very hazardous.
In the north, near Kikambala, the lagoon becomes completely dry at low tide, and on the extensive weed flats, dotted here and there with small sandy depressions and tidal pools, shelling is easy but not without exciting surprises. Thus, next to common Indo-Pacific shells as Cypraea annulus, C. erosa, various moon shells, Nasssarius, and numerous Strombus gibberulus (subsp. gibberulus – sturdier and heavier than the Pacific gibbosus), some typical East African species can be picked up: Vasum rhinoceros, and the lovely, orange Melongena pyrum with its orange-colored, velvety periostracum.
Most of my time was, however, spent at Diani Beach in the south where the lagoon is deeper, with a mid-lagoon channel. Here shelling was excellent and full of variety. Goggle swimming in shallow water revealed an array of shells seemingly just waiting to be picked tip. Cones were conspicuous: Conus virgo, C. litteratus, the pretty red-spotted C. tessellatus, to mention only a few, also Pleuroploca trapezium and Strombus decorus (closely related to S. luhuanus, but without the stained columella) abounded on sand and near grassy flats. Several dead, but only one live S. auris-dianae fell into my hands near weed-covered coral pieces, while Harpa amouretta crawled around at dead low tide, in full daylight. In other areas, I had known this species more as a nocturnal prowler – and rare. I also obtained several H. major which seem to differ somewhat from Pacific specimens. None of the East African specimens seen showed dark brown streaks crossing the varices, as are found more or less frequently on Pacific shells – at least the several dozens I have seen from Central Polynesia and Solomon Islands.
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