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Pendants
Pendants 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
Pendants Venturing further out into the lagoon I discovered areas populated with colonies of Lambis lambis – all rather large, long-spined, and richly colored specimens – and in other parts Murex ramosus, which were, however, generally badly eroded and not worth taking. Once, coming across a funny little knob in a sandy hollow near some coral, I dug in with my hand – to come up with a live 5-inch Cypraecassis rufa, the first one I had ever found myself anywhere.
On following days I concentrated more on the intriguing mid-lagoon channel which was studded on both sides with remarkably large coral boulders rising to within a few feet of lowest low-tide level from depths of 25 to 30 feet. A prize find was a large, 100mm Cymatium gutturnium, alive and in perfect condition, that had been hiding inside a narrow crevice. Here I also found several Drupina lobata, the curious Indian Ocean form of D. grossularia, which may or may not be a full-fledged species of its own.. They always seemed to occur in pairs. Lambis scorpius was lying exposed on the coral rubble covered sides of the steeply sloping channel in about 20 feet – the limit of my skin-diving prowess – while L. crocata, and L. arthritica were rare and limited to the outer reef ramparts accessible only during minus tides. Such low tides occurred only a few times during my stay. These were the "sea shell days": on the flat, solid reef-plateau rising from the sea for only 15 to 30 minutes Cypraea histrio, C. vitellus, C. carneola, and C. helvola were quite common. C. chinensis I found both under coral in the lagoon and on the reef, all with a beautiful, deep coloring of the base and sides. Most sought-after were C. mappa and C. stolida. I found none myself, but native fishermen had a few for sale, and some fellow holidayers found 3 or 4 C. stolida under coral blocks in the lagoon. There was one specimen that tallied in all respects, for me, with the description of subspecies fluctuans Iredale as given by Messrs. C. C. Woltz and D. B. Becher in their valuable little guide pamphlet "Collecting sea shells in Dar-Es-Salaam." I was unfortunately not able to obtain this specimen from its finder, but could inspect it very thoroughly, and found it to be of apparently sub-adult age.
Certain other sea shells, notably C. teres and C. nucleus, seemed to be more widespread outside the reef. SCUBA divers brought up specimens from 10 to 20 meters depth. I once accompanied them on a diving excursion, but having only goggles, had to remain near the surface above a large coral plateau that rose to within 4 or 5 meters of the surface from surrounding greater depths. It was a breathtaking experience for me. Never had I seen fish in such numbers. Above and between the canyons and slopes of the bizzarely shaped coral gardens literally thousands of fish in all sizes were moving about in an unbelievable pandemonium of color. Once an immense swarm of perhaps one to one-and-a-half foot long silvery fish completely enveloped me, parting in two streams only feet away from my face, and joining again behind my back. In one place, I discovered a large leopard trigger fish which let me approach on short dives to within a few feet. Museum aquaria gladly pay 500 US-Dollars for this rare beauty. The few coral plates I managed to turn over yielded, however, no shells, while the SCUBA divers working in deeper water nearby brought up quite a lot of sea shells.
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