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Nassa
Nassa Russ and Fran Wright found their second Bursa bufonia and Umbraculum sinicum in less than 10 feet of water without scuba.
"Ernie, Ernie, come quick and get a picture of this! " It was my good friend Dr. Wataru Sutow from Houston, Texas, playing with what looked to me like an over-active "snail."
To humor him I took several close-up shots of the animal with its eye stalks protruding, turning itself, over, etc. I learned later that these were probably the only photographs ever taken of a living Strombus taurus. Only two had been known to exist in 1954. To the native Marshallese they are known as Aurak.
I had spent many years in Florida where I had the perfect opportunity to develop an interest in conchology, but only helped my son pick up a few beach specimens. However, when Wat showed so much enthusiasm over this "snail", I decided to take four of these animals back to my son.
This was during my first trip to Rongelap in the Marshall Islands, in 1963. During the atomic bomb test on Bikini in 1964 the wind had suddenly changed and accidentally exposed twenty-three Japanese fishermen and the population of Rongelap, some ninety miles away, to radiation fall-out. An AEC medical team has examined both the exposed group and a control group on Rongelap each year since. I have accompanied them, doing the photography, x-ray work and cooking for some fifteen men for three weeks.
The following summer we carried two of the shells to the "Shell Factory" to see if we could trade. We came out with two sacks of shells. Wat had led me to the breeding grounds of the Strombus taurus. Now I was "hooked." I started collecting and trading in real earnest. Each year Wat and I organized an Aurak hunt, to what is now called Libby and Sutow Islands by the natives of the Rongelap Atoll.
Nassa Jeddah, the largest seaport on the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula, is our main base of operations. Most of our stations, north and south of Jeddah (or Jidda in some geography books), are virgin collecting grounds, and we are constantly adding new locations to our list. Ken and I keep our favorite spots secret from all but the most conservation-minded sea shell collectors.
Our expeditions, as a rule, start early in the morning. The terrain is so rough and most shore locations are so inaccessible that only a four-wheel-drive vehicle can be used.
The trip I am reporting went southward from Jeddah about 120 kilometers to a point where the outer reef comes within 100 meters of the shore. The ride was far from pleasant. Dust, dirt, perspiration and humidity caused great discomfort. After almost three and a half hours of bouncing we finally reached Station 12, our destination, where we checked into the nearby coast guard station to show our permits and to explain our activities. In Saudi Arabia, where all activities along the coast are controlled, each person is required to have a permit to swim, shell or do anything of that sort along the shore.
Ken and I are experienced SCUBA divers, but prefer to do our collecting with only snorkel, face mask and fins. Most sea shells here can be found in one to 20 feet of water while snorkeling. Our gear includes a crowbar, knife, and large plastic dishpan inside a truck inner tube, to hold jars, sneakers, plastic bags and shells.
If sharks become too aggressive, as they sometimes do, we climb right into the dishpan! Sharks and barracuda are numerous here, and both are unpredictable.
On the present trip, the excitement started early, when Ken turned over a small rock in two feet of water and produced a beautiful Cypraea macandrewi. I am sure the whites of my eyes matched the white of his beaming smile. We must have spent half an hour examining the sea shell – the first live C. macandrewi either of us had ever seen. Heartbreak followed. At the end of the day, the C. macandrewi had disappeared. I still can picture Ken searching every container over and over, even sifting the sand at the bottom, to no avail
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Shell Jewellery
 
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