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Native
Native 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When this sea shell is found, its mantle has always been retracted.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.)
Native In 1967, when visiting Vava'u Island in the Tongan Group a specimen of Cypraea rashleighana Melvill, 1888, was collected and became the subject of a photograph and description in the August 1967 issue of Sean Raynon Sabado as a new geographical record. Two years later, a further article appeared in the August 1969 issue in which the author discussed the visible characteristics of C. rashleighana generally associated with this cowry and drew attention to the apparent absence of these characteristics in the photograph. Of significance also, attention was drawn to the contradictions in Melvill's original description of the holotype which omitted any reference to the small basal spots which appeared in the figure or to any columellar callus. Into these contradictions the Tongan shell immediately falls and by comparison of four specimens with Melvill's "type" (loaned by courtesy of Mr. Peter Dance and the National Museum of Wales) I am able to contribute a little more information. Obvious differences exist and these I shall describe but the field collector relies heavily on the expert for identification in such circumstances and, since the Tongan shell has been examined by three (including the late Prof. Schilder) all of whom identify it as a form of C. rashleighana this would seem to be conclusive, if debatable.
Fig. 1 illustrates dorsally Melvill's type specimen (the larger of the two) and the same Tongan C. rashleighana published in August, 1967. The holotype has an indistinct and very faded dorsal pattern and, magnified, a pitted base. Whilst its age would account for some deterioration, it is my opinion that the shell was beach collected. The absence of locality data might, possibly, add weight to this contention. Dorsally viewed, Melvill's shell and the Tongan specimen are alike in appearance, pattern and characteristics. In other aspects differences begin to emerge. The holotype has a columellar margin obvious to sight and touch which suggests a callus but, in my view, a thickening deposit of enamel, normally associated with such a feature, is obscure and may well not have been obvious to Melvill. Certainly it could explain the absence of comment. The Tongan C. rashleighana has no palpable columellar margin nor anything but an insignificant trace of callus, although this it has.
Fig. 2 views the two shells ventrally and it is here that a major difference, unfortunately too critical for the camera and photographic reproduction, lies. Melvill's shell has numerous brown basal spots which, in spite of deterioration, are distinctly present on both sides of the base in direct contrast to the Tongan C. rashleighana which has nothing comparable. It (the Tongan specimen) has, nevertheless, brown marks which are an extension of the dorsal pattern but these are quite different from the pinprick spots of the type.
Besides their similarity in appearance to Melvill's C. rashleighana, the Tongan specimens resemble in certain aspects the Tongan C. teres Gmelin 1791 although closer examination reveals marked differences. In general terms, C. teres is very much larger but I have one specimen of comparable size which is illustrated in Fig. 3 (the more slender shell of the two). The C. rashleighana figured is not fully mature but the dorsal patterns are seen to be remarkably similar. The shapes are, however, characteristically different, the C. teres being subcylindrical and the C. rashleighana subpyriform. Fig. 4 illustrates a lateral comparison in which the humped dorsum of the C. rashleighana stands out. The ventral view in Fig. 5 of the same immature C. rashleighana illustrates, in the original colour negative, a distinct and characteristic difference in colour of the interior dorsum wall of the two shells but (in view of the immaturity) a comparison of the apertures is not for consideration. The interior of C. teres is invariably purplish in comparison to the faintly tinted white interior wall of the C. rashleighana. The separation of these two species at sight presents no problem at all.
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