Photo: Heinicke

A VERY RARE MITERBy H. H. HEINICKE

BREMEN - The rediscovery of the "long-lost"

species, Mitra sangl,linolenta Lamarck, ISII, wasreported by Jean M. Cate in 1966. Four specimens

had been collected in 1964 at Mogadiscio, Somalia,by beach boys (presumably in harbor dredgingspoil), she wrote in The VeUger.

Until then, only a single specimen, the holotypein the French National Museum of Natural Historyin Paris, had been known.

The species was indeed so rare as to be con-founded by most nineteenth century authors withMitra nubila (Gmelin) , although there was littleoutward similarity. Most illustrations in the old lit-erature are likewise equivocal or outright erroneous.

In recent times the species has been treated andillustrated, as far as I can ascertain, only by Cateand Walter O. Cemohorsky, the latter in his 1976monograph on the Mitridae in Indo-Pacific Mol-lusca.

Apart from the holotype, the whereabouts of onlythree or four specimens is known today. Two are inthe American Museum of Natural History in NewYork, and a third is in the Academy of NaturalSciences in Philadelphia. It would appear that afourth is in the Natal (South Africa) Museum.

Incidentally, one of the specimens figured by JeanCate in her Veliger report - her figures 4 and 5 -

(Cont'd on Page 7)

Promises to BringBy JERRY HESLINGA

Man has found use for a variety of mother-of-pearl shells, but among them the topshell, Trochusniloticus Linne, is by far the most important. Thehardness and thickness of the trochid shell make itespecially sought after by the fashion designers andgarment makers of Europe and Asia, who use themother-of-pearl primarily for buttons.

For over 70 years, the trochus industry hasflourished in the islands of Micronesia and theSouth Pacific. Its success has been due in large partto an ambitious transplanting program that extendedthe original range of this species from the IndianOcean and the tropical Western Pacific northward tothe Mariana Islands, southward to the Cook andSociety Islands, and eastward to the Carolines, theMarshalls and even Hawaii. The mass transplantingof trochus turned out to be quite profitable and -as far as anyone knows - relatively innocuous from

an ecological standpoint.After World War II it was feared that the devel-

opment of plastics signalled the demise of thetrochus industry. In fact, however, demand for natu-ral mother-of-pearl has remained high. The price oftrochus shell has increased by 500 per cent in thepast ten years. Today trochus is a multimillion-dollar business in Oceania. About 5,000 tons ofshells are harvested each year.

Natural Stocks DecliningA greater threat than plastics to the trochus indus-

try is overharvesting. Trochids, which feed on al-gae, are found in the shallow sunlit waters of coralreefs, seldom deeper than a few meters. The adultsare large, slow moving and not especially wellcamouflaged. This means that they are easy preyfor skin divers.

On the islands of Oceania, where jobs and cashare generally scarce, diving for trochus is about aseasy (and at least as profitable) as picking up quar-ters from the sidewalk. In addition, the trochus meatis a favorite local food, with a taste and texturealmost indistinguishable from abalone. It's no won-der that conservation of this resource has become aserious problem.

A number of conventional regulatory measureshave been introduced throughout the tropical Pacificto protect trochus from overfishing.

Although these conservation measures are wellintentioned, they have not been effective. Violations

Back Trochids

-

Photo: Heslinga

Five days old. a newly metamorphosed trochus en-

joys its first meal on a patch of red coralline algae.

of the three-inch size limit are common in Micro-

nesia (20 per cent of Palau's 1979 harvest were

undersize); the sanctuaries are routinely poached,

and many fishermen openly collect trochus out of

season.

Nearly every scientific paper on trochus since

1917 has cited examples of serious overfishing.

Mariculture Shows Promise

Almost as soon as it became apparent that trochus

populations were being overfished, scientists and

fisheries officials began to speculate about the pos-

sibility of reef reseeding as a conservation measure.

It was agreed that reseeding would offer control

over trochus populations, perhaps resulting in larger

harvests, and certainly reducing the risk of local

extinctions. Since these ideas developed as far back

as 1930, several scientists have attempted to breed

Trochus niloticus, but without success.

Biologists at the Micronesian Mariculture Demon-

stration Center (MMDC) in Palau re-attacked the

problem of trochus conservation in 1979. Since then

we have made exciting progress that should permit

trochus "farming" to become a reality.

First, we have discovered that adult trochus held

(Coot'd 00 Page 12)

Page 2 HAW AllAN SHELL NEWS April, 1980

'7Ia«tatiale Sleett 1teett4ISSN 0017-8624

Editor Emeritus E. R. CROSS

Editor STUART LILLI CO

Associate Editors ELMER LEEHMAN, OLIVESCHOENBERG, GEORGE CAMPBELL

Science Advisor E. ALISON KAY

Science Consullant W. O. CERNOHORSKY

Editorial Staff Lyman Hlga, Cliff Weaver

Corresponding Editors: Fr. AI Lopez S.J.,Rick Luther, William E. Old Jr.,Peter van Pel, Thora Whitehead

HAWAIIAN MALACOlOGICAl SOCIETY(Founded in 1941)

POBox 10391 Honolulu, Hawaii 96816

President OR. TOM BURCH

Vice President JOHN EARLE

Treasurer WES THORSSON

Recording Sec'y LIZ KANE

Corresponding Sec'y ... OLIVE SCHOENBERG

Directors

Something new - and long needed - is being

added to the public display at the Bernice P. BishopMuseum in Honolulu - an accessible display ofHawaiian and Pacific-wide shells. HMS DirectorBill Christensen wrote (HSN Jan. 1980) about therevival of the Karl Greene Shell Collection as partof the Museum's educational program. CommanderChristensen reports that in the first two months hehad over 4,000 visitors - many of them students

who come in the morning with their teachers.

Christensen keeps the Shell Room open until Ip.m. on week days. Personal commitments occupyhis afternoons and weekends. Other HMS membersare beginning to volunteer to "mind the store"afternoons. In time, he hopes to have the displayavailable seven days a week.

"I need more volunteers," Bill admits. "Three tofour hours, one afternoon a week, is all it takes."

End of the Ames CollectionWith the death last year of Waneta Ames of

Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the Society lost a long-time (since 1962) member and a dedicated sheller.Now comes word that her husband, Clifford Ames,is withdrawing from shells.

"I sold my collection, library and shell businessto G. Coovert of Dayton, Ohio, who is curator ofthe Dayton Museum," Ames wrote.

"The library that 1 sold him includes a copy of

every paper HMS ever published, bound in bookform."

Ames didn't report on his plans for the future, buthis address is Highway 122 South, Eagle Rock Star

Route, Cassville, MO 65625.

Books in ProgressDr. Rowland Ziegler of South Carolina and Bob

da Motta of Bangkok, both extremely knowledgableHMS members with previous books to their credit,have undertaken to collaborate on a new edition ofZiegler's classic (but now somewhat dated) OliveShells of the World, published in 1969 with H. C.Porreca. In addition to the olives, allied species willbe included in the revised work.

Ziegler and da Motta say they will welcome inputon the Olividae from other shellers. "Scientific

data, observations, news or photos of unusualspecimens and related information" will be ap-

preciated.Dr. Ziegler's present address is P.O. Box 911,

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576. Da Motta's is 804 Bang-".

WELCOME TO HAWAII!!KOK rnsurance tJullarng, JU2 ~ilom Road, BangkokHMS members visiting Hawaii are invited to con-S, Thailand,

tact the Society while in Honolulu, Please keep in mind, however, that the Society office is open Conus dusaveli Bloom?

irregularly, and that it does not have a telephone, Divers working in deep water off Okinawa have, collected more than 40 specimens of Conus dusaveli DO A FRIEND A FAVOR' Society officers are listed individually rn the tele- " .

, , , , , H. Adams, 1872, accordIng to HSN Associate HMS Members: Nonmembers will receive a com-

phone book, If In doubt, ask the Walklkl Aquarium Edl' tor Elmer Leehman 1. f H .. Sh II N ( ' th' P Imentary copy 0 aW8Ilan e ews WI aor the Bishop Museum for names. Better still, write "Conus dusaveli has been one of the rarest of membership application) if you send the Corres-

to the Society in advance, cones, and has commanded very high prices," notes ponding Secretary their full name and address.

Leehman. "In the past couple of years, a limitednumber have been collected in bottom nets at PuntaEngano and off Bohol Island in the Central Phil-ippines. All have been quickly taken by collectors.

"I have been hearing of the recent sudden in-crease in the supply of this unusually attractive cone- which has bands of dark brown-and-white dots

and dashes on a light-brown base. Now I have

completely reliable information on the extent of the'bloom' at Okinawa. It means that several dozen

lucky collectors and museums will be able to getspecimens.' ,

Salisbury on the MoveIf you have wondered why Richard Salisbury

suddenly stopped writing for HSN, the answer isthat he has been on the move. Salisbury answers tothe whims of the U.S. Navy. Late in 1979, after atwo-year tour on the island of Guam, he was trans-ferred to San Diego for additional training in prep-aration for a new assignment. The good news is thatthe new job will be in Hawaii. A recent note fromSalisbury said he would arrive in July.

Beware of Plastic FoamCollectors who keep specimens in those little

see-through boxes, with a bit of plastic sponge inthe bottom, may unwittingly be damaging the glossof their shells.

Writing in the New York Shell Qub Notes re-cently, HMS member Earl H. Reed of the Spring-field (Mass.) Science Museum suggested a switchto some other padding, such as cotton wool.

"My usual procedure has been to place (in theplastic box) fIrst a folded label, then the plasticsponge insert, and finally the ,specimen, which isheld firmly in place between the plastic and thelid," Earl wrote.

"Some months ago I discovered a most disturbingproblem. After a time the plastic sponge, if undercompression, loses its elasticity and deteriorates.Often a thin film of granular material adheresloosely to the underside of the shell. This is quiteeasily rubbed or brushed off, and in many casesthere is no visible damage.

"The plastic, however, has minutely etched thesurface. In the case of a glossy cowry, olive orMarginella or the like, the result is disastrous! Mostof the gloss is gone, never to return.

"I know little of the chemistry involved, butthere seems to be some acidic component in the

disintegrating plastic. Needless to say, I have dis-carded most of my plastic sponge inserts and re-placed them with something less reactive, such asl'nttnn ~nnl "

GEORGE CAMPBELL RAY McKINSEY

WM. CHRISTENSEN MIKE OWENS

EOOUNHAM TOM RICHERT

BRUCE HOOK OOROTHY WENOT

STUART LILLICO KEITH ZEILINGER

The Society meets the first Wednesday of each month at theHawaii National Guard headquarters. Diamond Head Road& 22nd Avenue. Honolulu at 730 p.m.

VISITORS WELCOME!

Hawaiian Shell News is issued free to members of theSociety Postage rates have been computed and added tomembership dues Single copies of any issue. $1.00, post-age included Individual copies of any issue may be ob-tained. free of charge, by qualified individuals for bona fideresearch projects

Members outside the United States are asked to pay with abank cheque (not a draft) payable to HMS on a U.S. bank.(Be sure your name and address appear on the cheque.)

HMS DUES FOR 19BOFirst Class delivery of HSN in US.,

Canada and Mexico (Recommended) $15.00By Bulk Mail to US. Zip Code

addresses $12.00As Printed Matter to Canada and

Mexico (4 to 6 weeks) $14.00Delivery by Air Mail (Recommended)

to Caribbean and Central America (1 week) $19.00to Europe. Med. Africa and

S. America (2 weeks) $20.50Ito Pacific, Asia. Africa (2 weeks) $22.00

Delivery by Letter Mail (5 to 10 weeks) $15.50Delivery as Printed Matter

(8 to 30 weeks) $13.50Associate membership (HMS card

but no HSN) $ 1.00

There is a $100 charge for Change of Address.Articles of interest to shell collectors are solicited. Con-

tents are not copyrighted. Republication, with credit to HSN.is invited.

Advertisements are accepted at the rate of US $15 perI column-inch/issue, payable in advance. Discounts are of-

fered for six and twelve insertions Write to the Correspond-ing Secretary for information

April, 1980 HAWAIIAN SHELL NEWS Page 3

Bremerton, Wash.Dear family: Wednesday

There are a number of areas that people can goclam digging near Bremerton (a half hour drive,maybe.) We got a pamphlet about it. It looks somuch fun - and cold.

John just came home with a shovel. It looks likea huge ice cream spoon, but much narrower. It's forrazor-clam digging! Now I know what John wantsto do this weekend.

The shovel is not light. It probably weighs six orseven pounds. If you use it all day, your arms willbe sore; however, you are allowed to dig only 15clams a day per person with $2.50 license.

Reading the pamphlet, it sounds like clam hunt-ing instead of digging. Razor-clams can dig downnine inches or so in a minute. The pamphletsuggests a two-person team; one for digging and theother for snatching as soon as the clam is seen inthe hole. The pamphlet says that 2 million clams,damaged and broken, are left each year that peopledo not take. John said that you can get a ticket fornot taking your broken clams, but apparently, evenso. people want perfect shelled ones to eat.

TuesdayI don't know if you have eaten razor-clams, but

they taste exactly like scallops or abalone to me.John loves razor-clams. He thinks that they wereworth a six-hour drive (both ways) and gettingsandy and wet all over last Saturday.

We were well prepared for the clam .digging; wecarried extra dry clothes, a bucket, a shovel, lunch,tea, maps, angel-food cake - but no rubber boots.

Unfortunately, it was a cold rainy day (the next daywas fine). It was even snowing through part of thewoods as we drove.

"How fat and juicy rain drops are in this state,"I thought. And it was snowing!

We got to our destination around 2:30 p.m. (weleft house at 11:30 a.m.). The tide was going out.We could start digging immediately without waitinguntil 5:30 p.m. (the lowest tide). Our shoes wouldhave been fine if it weren't raining. The wet sandwas so firm that cars and campers could drive on it.

Finding razor-clam signs wasn't easy because ofrunning rain water in slopes from the mountain side.Holes got filled up with water instantly. Diggingwas like a rat race; here you have firm sand andrain water in your way and the razor-clams aredigging down also, probably faster than you are.

It was really John's job. He would quickly digdown about a foot or so and kneel down and dip hisarm in freezing dark water up to his elbow, stirringit and searching for his clam. It was like diggingsweet potatoes from the ground. He would feel thesiphon tube or foot of the clam and actually pull itup with a jerk. Then he had a huge giant clamhanging in his fingers.

Instead of handing it to me, he would drop the

Harpa costata (Linne, 1758) is commonly regardedas limited to the islands of the western 1ndianOcean - Mauritius, Rodriguez. Diego Garcia and

northeastern Madagascar. Wherever it is found, it isexceedingly rare, commanding prices of severalhundred dollars. This specimen was obtained byHMS member Elizabeth Kinloch from a woman ofKenya, who claimed to have found it north of Mom-basa. Although the dorsum had a mended breakbarely noticeable in the f'hntn the ..hell hnA "yr,,1

lpnt cnln,.

The BackgroundFamily letters can be of interest to others -

particularly when they deal with shelling. One suchwas written by our daughter-in-law.

A brief explanation of family relationships seemsappropriate. The four Recent generations of Burches-.::: Grandfather and Grandmother John Q. and Rose,their son Tom and I, our children John and Janth-ina, and Jan's son Sean - have enjoyed shell col-lecting for many years. Not long ago, John (6 feet 3inches) married Setsuko (five feet) and moved to thePacific Northwest. Setsuko, whose home was Japan,has mastered English but digging for big razorclams, Siliqua potula Dixon, 1788, was new to her.Her letter to us, telling of her initiation, has classicqualities.

Beatrice Burch* * *

clam to put his hand in his pocket immediately. Justa few seconds submerged in that water made ourhands so red and immobile. We could do this lessthan an hour. We both decided to stop after we gotnine clams, and half of them were broken. Whenwe left the beach at 4:00 p.m., more and morepeople were coming in that awful weather.

I was a little worried about getting car sick on theway home, but those pine woods were so pretty andrestful to my eyes, I didn't get tired from the longdrive. That night, we cleaned the clams. WatchingJohn cleaning those huge clams, I got a sick feelinglike car sick. The muscles and feet contracted andjerked even long after they were in pieces.

I just didn't feel like eating those monster lookingtubes and feet lying on my plate. I said to John,"Janthy would get sick, too. She doesn't like feetand tubes and eyes of clams on her plate."

"No," John said, "she wouldn't mind. We grewup with these. ' ,

Janthy, how would you like eating shoe-sizedclams with tubes that you can almost stick twofingers into?

Actually razor-clams are cute. You feel like tak-ing them home to keep as your pets. You don't feellike eating them. I would like to catch them just tolook at. John said that he would do all the cleaningand I would get used to them. I guess so . . .cutting up fish doesn't bother me. John said that wewould take Grandmother clam digging (on a fine

day).Setsuko

A Washington State Department of Fisheriespamphlet notes that Siliqua patula ranges fromAlaska to California and is abundant on surf-pounded ocean beaches and in sheltered areas alongthe coast. Razor-clams of the same or a differingsubspecies are seen by divers to about 30 feet off-shore.

Washington State has about 50 miles of diggingarea - some kept for commercial use. Annually,some 300,000 individuals make 650,000 to 775,000digger-trips, taking home six to 13 million razor-clams. As about 2,000,000 broken clams are left onthe beaches wastage is considerable. Exploitation ofa population is alleviated by having a summer clo-sure of these beaches.

Razor-clams reach sexual maturity at two years in

Photo: Schoenberg

"~- ... ..., , .,.. ~_.. ,-- ~-~~.--~ ,

Washington, and spawn in April or May when thetemperature rises. Spawn ripens in the foot and isreleased as eggs or sperm into the open water. Theyoung clams drift in the plankton for about sixweeks and then settle to the shallow water oceanbottom.

After heavy juvenile mortality, maturity isachieved. They grow from a length of one-half inchtheir first fall, to 3'h. inches the next.

It is better to dig them in their second year, whenthey average 4'h. inches and are heavy. Life expec-tancy in Alaska where they aren't harvested is 11 to15 years. In Washington, where most are harvestedin their first two years, few live to their life expec-tancy of eight years.

Their food is diatoms and microscopic marine lifesiphoned through one of the large "neck" openings.Gills extract the food and pass it to the mouth nearthe hinge. After being digested with the gullet crys-taline rod enzyme, the waste products are eliminatedfrom the gut through the other long tube and outthat orifice.

Protected from many predators by the rapid dig-ging foot movement and with a thin streamlinedshell covered by a smooth coating, the clam moveseasily vertically through fluid-filled sand, but withless ease through flml sand.

Clams do not move laterally, so migration ofclam beds is not found. Thus each year, populationscan be monitored with predictions of size and abun-dance for the next season.

B.B.

April, 1980HAW AllAN SHELL NEWSPage 4

IS IT A NEW SPECIES?

Approx. 1.6 x life Photos: Chapman

Is this a new species?The figured shell was trawled in the Southern

Ocean off Western Australia from 1,000 feet byHMS member A. J. (Tony) Gabelish. Pretty obvi-ously it is a member of the Olividae, but identifi-cation isn't easy after that.

The shell measures 38mm. It has two orangebands with two lighter-yellow bands separated b~ anarrow white stripe. The shell was collected alive.

E.G.L.

'Let the AuthorPublish at His Peril'

NEW YORK - Karl Jacobson, former president

of the AMU and a seasoned writer on malacologicaltopics, in a recent article in the New York ShellClub Notes, offered a comment to the general effectthat amateur collectors of shells had an obligation tosubmit their field observations to trained scientistsbefore rushing into print. (The article was in reac-tion to a report on habitat and range to which sev-eral NYSC members took exception.)

Jacobson's position was quickly attacked by Ar-chie L. Jones of Miami (a member of HMS as wellas the NYSC) in the January 1980 issue of theNYSC Notes.

"The premise that amateur shell collectors areobliged to submit their field observations (or anyobservations) to scientists before publication is un-tenable," wrote Jones.

"Some of the most profound break-throughs inscientific thought have been expounded byamateurs. Scientists are earthly beings, possessed ofall the frailties of mortal men: prejudice, pride,narrow-mindedness, and bound and limited by theirenvironments.

"Had Copernicus followed Karl's advice, the sunand all the heavenly orbs might still be revolvingaround the Earth! Contemplate upon what wouldhave happened had the monk, Gregor Mendel, sub-mitted his paper on genetics to his superiors. Weneed not concern ourselves with whether Darwinconsulted the scientific community before publish-ing. We had Alfred Wallace ready to carry thebanner for the free expression of thought.

"Let us not take that giant step back to the DarkAges when all new ideas had to be submitted to thesupreme authority - the church. Let us remember

that scientists have no monopoly on intellect andthat unlettered men, too, are capable of thought andthe ability to reason.

"Let us suffer a thousand inconsequential publish-ings of misinformation as the price we must pay forthe chance that the next (thousandth and one) mightcontribute to our search for the truth. Let the authorpublish at his peril!" Murex antelmei Photo: Rouillard

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IS IT THE RAREST?By ANDRE ROUILLARD

DURBAN - Murex antelme; Viader, 1938, is

one of the rarest of the muricids. Ruth Fair wasunable to get an illustration for her Murex Book.

Radwin and D' Attilio say in their Murex SheDs ofthe World that they had never seen a specimen;their illustration is based on the figure accom-panying Viader's original description.

The local museum in Pon Louis, Mauritius, has aspecimen on display, however, and on a recent visitI was able to take a photo (below). This may be thefirst time that M. antelme; has been figured incolor.

The shell is named for the discoverer, GeorgesAntelme, a well-known prewar collector onMauritius. The label said the specimen had beentrawled in 300 meters of water off Baie du Tom-beau, Mauritius in 1929.

There were four specimens in the museum's col-lection. It is probable that these are the only onesever found.

April, 1980 HAW AllAN SHELL NEWS Page 5

By WALTER HAAS

Punchoowl

HONOLULU

lolaniPaIKe

M.~_.-AWport

/Ii ./~/ ~'/

~\a

SAND ISLAND

A half-dozen trips to Sand Island, literally atHonolulu's front doa, during the past year haveyielded a couple of thousand shells of at least 100species. All were subfossils, and were collectedwithin 200 yards of the parking lot. Each trip hasproduced rarely found specimens.

Happily for shellers, each high tide brings in anew supply, while it grinds up those already on thebeach.

Within living memory, Sand Island was in twoparts - a small island used as a quarantine station,

and the Ka-Hola-Loa reef. The latter was enlargedwith dredging' 'spoil" from Honolulu Harboc soonafter the turn of the century. In 1940, as a conse-quence of extensive dredging. the two pieces of landwere connected to form a 641-acre island, rising 10feet above high tide at its highest point.

A number of shell collectors scoured the fill areawhile this was going on. Herbert Alexander told usthat he personally collected more than 100,000

All Photos: Haas

Callus cylindraceus Broderip &. Sowerby (28.3mm)

and Cypraea childnlli Gray (25. 4mm) , found as

subfossi/s on Sand Is/and.

specimens! My only specimen of Callus aurico.-us

Hwass in Bnlguiere, 1792, was collected by Ale-

xand~ at that time.

For a long time after that, the island was used

badly, first by the military which' 'fortified" it

during World War II and later by a careless public

as an open refuse dump. In time the U.S. Coast

Guard, the Matson Navigation Co. and a few heavy

industrial outfits moved to the island. A new bas-cule bridge gave better access. Squatters builtshacks and shanties along the ocean and lagoonshores, continuing to occupy them while a veryattractive park is being built to ov~look HonoluluHarbor.

So much for Sand Island's history. Our flfSt visitwas at high tide a couple of years ago during a freehour while waiting for our plane back to Kauai. Inthat brief time we picked up four strombid species,a dozen mitrids and a 57. 7mm Ho_locantha ana-tomico Perry.

Subsequent visits have yielded the following,among many others:

Seven muricids, including many Vitulariamiliaris Gmelin, 10 Fava.ua garretti (Pease), oneHomolocantha anatomico and eight Favarita cros-sei Lienard, 1873 (which we believe is new for

Hawaii).Nine cerithids, including six Cerithium rostratum

Sowef'by and three unidenufied species.Five members of the Strombidae, including 20

Strombus mutabilis ostergaanli (below), 18 S. gib-

berulus Linne, pieces of several adult Lambischiragnz chiragnz Linne. and an almost complete18.3mm juvenile L. c. chiragra which was crabbed.

Many cowries, including six Cypraea erosa Linneand one C. childreni Gray.

Nine representatives of the Cymatiidae, includingseven Distorsio pusilla (Pease) (above).

Seven Columbellidae species, including 24specimens of Eupiica turturina (Lamarck) and 16E. livescens (Reeve), which Dr. Kay reports onlyfrom Midway Islands.

Three members of the Fasciolariidae, includingFusinus sandvicensis (Sowerby).

Twenty six from the Mitridae and Costellariidae,including two VexiUum miUecostatus Broderip, twoV. lumen (Reeve), four V. cantenatum (Broderip) ,four V. fortiplicatum (Pease), one Mitra nubilaha_iielISis Kay and one unidentified.

Many of these species are unknown alive in Ha-waii. Others have been only rarely or never reportedhere previously. All were subfossil and were eitherlying in the beach Wift or were crabbed.

We recommend this area for other collectorsinterested in subfossil specinlens and willing to grubamong gravel and rocks. Just drive to the Waikikiend of the Sand Island Park parking area beside theabandoned military lookout tower, near the harborentrance, and walk directly to the beach. But re-member that the park is closed and padlocked at 7o'clock each night.

Page 6 HAWAIIAN SHEu. NEWS Apil, 1980

MY FIRST SHELL - ~

ANDOVER, MA - At age seventy-two, my fa-ther died suddenly. His leg.:y to me, an only son,was more dlan a physical resemblance; it was aninterest that had evolved from a gift he made to memany years before. This gift was my fi~t shell: aSeapheUa jllIIOII;' Lamarck, 1804.

The special gift of a shell was dad's approach tomotivating an adolescent. He was anxious to get mestarted on a science project for my sophomore yearin high school.

Dad's love for die out-of-doors h.l made him aneager fisherman. Having planted the idea for thatscience project, he took me to Sanibel Island,Aorida (reached then only by ferry), where he en-joyed fishing while I began to assume the familiarshelling position - the "Sanibel bends."

With a few more shells, the j81101l;' found itselfmounted, labeled, and displayed on black boards atthat 1959 science fair. Admiring comments pleasedboth father and son.

As the years passed, shell collecting was clearlymy hobby. I used to bring home a bucket of liveshells, leave it in the cafP<X"t, and dash off fIX" aSaturday night date. Typical of shells, they wouldcrawl out of the bucket and begin meandering downthe drive. Dad would retrieve them; mother's ap-proach was to take the bucket over to the hedge, diga hole, and bury the shells. I am sure some are stillburied in that yard.

Through collecting, trading and buying, my col-

~ FATHER'S LEGACYlection grew and dad's encouragement remained. Onhis walks along the beach, he would often pick up asmall, colorful shell and place it in a metal lozengebox which he began carrying after crushing a fragileviolet sea snail in his shirt pocket. His reading oftenproduced articles 011 shells and sea life and he keptme abreast of the shell shows in his area by attend-

ing yearly.Like my father, the jU80";' is now a treasured

memory. To this day, it remains mounted on thatnow-faded blackboard. But the j_1IitI is muchmcxe than just a memory. Through it, my interest inshells has grown and deepened. A father's legKY, amind and life-stretching hobby, will never be fcxgot-ten. Edwanl Nieburger

PERSONAL ADSFor sale: P.pUi8. p.lcilerri.. (green tree

snails), Manus Island, New Guinea. Acquired pre-emb..go, limited supply. $10 each including post-age, while they last. Myrna Esser, Box 672,Nashua, NH 03061, USA.

Display cases for sale: 36" x 18" x 6". Pro-fessionally made of wood with hinged, glassed-inlids. $45 each or all four for $160. Sh..on K.Burnham, 1043 Spencer St., #26, Honolulu, HI96822.

Use USN Personal Ads. Three dollars per 25wcxds, plus name and address. Dealers please usedisplay ads. One time only!

Roland Houart, St. Jobsstratt 8, B-3330LANDEN (Ezemaal) , Belgium. writes that he isinterested in all members of the Muricidae, "eventhe commonest ones." He offers many Europeanand wIKldwide gasUOpo<is and bivalves in exchangeflY your muricids. but sets three conditions: thatthey he fine IK gem specimens, that you have gooddata, and that the shells have NOT been acidtreated. Houart promises to answer all letters.

* * *

Adam Galganski, W. Uznamska 4. 85-732 Byd-goszcz, Poland, a young student (HSN Dec. 1979,"Letter from BYdgoszcz") would like to exchangecorrespondence and shells with collectors in othercountries. See the December issue flY informationon his interests.

. . .Collect~ of Hawaiian shells: here's a chance to

obtain unusual specimens from the South Pk:ific.Hans G. Barsczua, Center ORSTOM. P.O. Box529, Papeete, Tahiti, says his "principal interest isin cowries. I have some good ones, such as C.c:auilllli, C. I'8.ftoilli astGlYi, C. goodGlli fllSt'f1--crdGla, the fIrSt C. IIIGPIM found in the AustralIsland Chain (Tubuai) , and C. c:aplllselpelflis andChDrollill tritollis from Rapa Island (southeast ofthe Austral chain). The latter two were the fIrStspecimens of those species found at that southem-m~t point. I am intes"ested in exchanging specimensfrom here for th~e from the Hawaiian chain."

Page 7HAWAIIAN SHELL NEWSApril, 1980

Six Freaks From ZanzibarA VERY RARE MITER(Cont'd from Page 1)do not appear to me to be M. sallguillolellta. Itmight be Ziba cloveri Cernohorsky, 1971.

On page one of this issue of USN is what Ibelieve to be the first color photo of M. sall-guillolenla to be published.

The shell came into my possession very recently.It was collected personally in 1971 by EdmundTrippner, a fellow member of HMS and of theGmnan "Club Conchylia." He found it during aholiday visit to Massinga Beach, near the town ofInhambane, Mozambique. A very unusual tidalswell had thrown up on the beach a huge number ofshells, including sonte never befoce seen in the area.

Trippner, who also collected several COIIIISmillleedwardsi on the same beach, reported in USNJan. 1971 on the unusual conditions prevailing atthat time.

Although Trippner has revisited the locality sev-eral times, and has had friends on the spot lookingout ever since, no further M. sallguillolellta haveturned up. He also questioned local fishermen andbeach boys. None had ever seen such a shell before.

Sally Diana Kaicher has figured the Natal Mu-seum shell in her Card Catalogue of World- WideShells - MITRIDAE. Card No. 859 cites

"Eastern Africa; low intertidal zone in gravelly sand

with small coral" as locality and habitat.

The isolated and very rare findings at Somaliaand Mozambique - moce than 3,000 km apart -as well as the circumstances (harbor dredgings andafter a tidal wave) would make it unlikely that thespecies lives in shallow offshore lagoons. Rather, ahabitat just beyond the first drop-off of the coastalreefs seems to be indicated.

The photo on page one is slightly enlarged. Theactual specimen measures 31.9 x 12.3mm.

The coloring, even eight years after its originalfinding, is very fresh and lively. It must still havebeen alive or very fresh dead when it was thrownashore.

There is a minor dent in the upper outer lip, andthe tip of the apex is worn. Otherwise, the shell isin impeccable condition. The sculpture consists ofmoderately elevated vertical ribs and less pro-nounced spiral ridges, reducing the whole surface toa somewhat tesselated pattern of squarish bright yel-low elevations and a network of intervening grooveswhich are a vivid blO<x! red, fully justifying thename of the species.

The first two post-apical whorls bear only spiralribs and are finely punctured in the grooves. Nopunctures persist on the later whorls.

Apart from its rarity, Mitm sallguilloknla is astrikingly beautiful shell, perhaps even more sowhen brought to light fresh and fully alive. I shouldbe interested to hear of the existence of any further

specimens.

Some Expert Comment

USN Science Consultant Walter O. Cemohorsky

remarked after reading the foregoing relKJrt:

"Heinicke is correct in pointing out that the spec-

HAIFA, Israel - While operating a business in

Zanzibar during the 19605, Mischa Fainzilber ac-cumulated a remarkable collection of East Africashells. Later he moved the collection to Dar-es-Salaam, on the African mainland. Last year, when Ihad an opportunity to visit him there, he turned overthe bulk of his shells to me. The Mischa Fainzilbercollection now is housed in Haifa.

Among the many rare and unusual specimens arethe six freaks figured above. They are, left to right:COllIA' striQteUlIS Linne with a high. stepped spire;

imen illustrated in J. Cate under the name M.Pn»'aIIlllillolelltD J. Cate, 1966 (= M. salllllill'"lellta Lamarck, 1811) in figures 4 and 5 is a differ-ent species. If this species is Ziba cloven Cer-nohorsky, as Heinicke suggests, then it would be areal giant (35.4mm). All other known specimensrange from 15.Omm to 27.Omm. The known dis-tribution of Z. cloven is from Japan to Taiwan andthe Solomon Islands."

And Mrs. Cate commented:"I was delighted to see that (collectors) are now

finding the range of Mitra SlIIrllliliolelita. I have

Literature CitedCate, Jean M. 1966. The Veliger, Vol. 9, No.2 p.

239.Cernohorsky, W. O. 1976. Ind...Padftc MoIIlBC8,

Vol. 3, No. 17 p. 448.Trippner, Edmund 1972. Hawaiian Shell News,

Jan. p. 4.

Photo: Bt'Tnacst'kC. tt'rmillUS Lamarck with an unusual spire shapeand color; C. _nnonus Linne and C. leOptlrdusRoding. both with unusually high. stepped spires;C. _mocallUS Hwass. whose 71.4mm length in-cludes 25mm of spire: and finally a C. fusctltawith atypical coronations on its spire.

No data on habitat. etc. were available. All origi-nally were bought from villagers, suggesting thatthey were picked up in shallow water - a fairly

flexible bit of data in view of Zanzibar's five-meters- plus tidal range. Mike fainzilber

compared Mr. Heinicke's photo carefully with mytwo and find them identical. It is indeed exciting.

"One interesting point I discovered is that Mrs.Orville Davis originally obtained four specimens (ofwhat) she thought were the same species. She kepttwo and sent the other two to the American Museumof Natural History for identification. The museumsent them to me. All three of us thought the twomust be the same species. although I did register aslight reservation on one. It seemed a bit different.

"I cannot confirm that that particular specimenmay be Ziba cloJleri Cernohorsky, as I have notseen that species, but it certainly could differ fromM. sanguillolelllll.

. 'Imagine finding a rediscovered species and a

new species in two out of four shells!"If anyone knows the present whereabouts of

Mrs. Orville Davis (form~ly of Orlando, Rorida),it might be int~esting to see what h~ other twospecimens are.

. 'If anyone is inclined to pursue it further, I

am willing to lend my photos of the two shell~ ~examined."

April, 1980HAWAIIAN SHELL NEWSPage 8

SHELLS FOR SALERECENT FINDS

Close to home, I am told that Reg Gage, VirginiaSiewertsen and Mabel and Walt Haas, all on a visitto Sand Island, Honolulu from the neighboring is-land of Kauai, collected semifossil specimens ofFavartiD crossei (Lienardi). (See Walter Hass' arti-cle on page five of this issue.) I don't believe F.crossei is found alive in Hawaii, but the presence ofsemifossils in dredged material from Honolulu Har-.bor suggests that it may have a habitat here that wehaven't discovered.

On her home island of Kauai, Amy Bandmannfound a gem 83.3mm Cymatium parthenopeumVon Salis with periostracum intact tangled in apiece of net at Kawailoa Beach. Russell Haas got asmaller crabbed C. parthenopeum and a beautifullive Bursa bufoniD Lamarck.

Third Annual Rare Shell ShowMay 17 to 25, 1980

On loan from sixteen private collections, hun-dreds of the rarest and most beautiful shells inthe world. Plus an opportunity to purchase someextraordinary large corals, display pieces andgem specimens from The Tidepool Collection.

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Also sell Murex, Vo/u,., Hallolus. Conus. etc

By LYMAN mGAFrom Lausanne, Switzerland, HMS member G.

H. Ernst has reported some interesting finds in theCypraeidae. The first is a new form of Cypraeagrayana Schilder from the Red Sea. The base,writes Ernst, is identical with the New Caledoniavariety, but is thick and deformed, with a heavyshell. He calls the form "perplexa."

The second was a 25.5mrn specimen of C. claii.destina passerina Melvill. This appears to tie theworld record for size. Another was a C. [utea Gme-lin with only one dorsal band instead of the usualtwo.

And finally he has a gem C. xanthodon Sowerbywith no pattern on the dorsum. Its blue-green basehas discreet brown spots, and is said to be a littlelighter than is normal. The length is 27.Omrn.

Ernst did not give locality data on the two latterfinds.

He also reported the presence of a C. saulaesaulae Gaskoin in the collection of Teddy Baer, atLausartne, measuring 33.8mrn. This seems to be aworld record. Ernst says the Baer specimen is inperfect condition.

Specialismg in shells endemic to the Western Auslralia coast plus fine'pecimens from the rest of Australia and overseas. Selling agents forthe Frank Ahhottsmith Volute collection. Price list free by sea; $2 byair.

Box T1738, G.P.O., Perth ~Ol, W AUSlraiia

of ICZN Au lesBy ELMER G. LEEHMAN

As Society members may have surmised from

recent HSN articles on the subject. this writer re-

gards the rules of the International Commission

Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) as glaringly inade-

quate insofar as the naming of shell species is con-

cerned.

As this is written, we are faced with another rash

of "new species" of highly questionable validity.

Few of the recent descriptions have been published

in professional malacological journals, where they

would be reviewed in advance by competent scien-

tists. Thus, the author and the editor (in some in-

stances the same person!) may be the only people

involved in putting forward a new name. When

either of these individuals is deficient in scientific

training (or, as is the situation in at least one case,

entirely without such training), the result is an insult

to shell collecting and to malacology as a field

of study.

In my personal opinion, most recently described

"new species" are merely color forms or variants of

already existing species. Ironically, the ICZN rules- while precise on such points as priority of

authorship, spelling consistency, and techniques ofpublication - are silent on the central question.

what is a species? Thus there is no test of the actual

validity of the species being proposed, nor is there

any limitation on where or by whom these descrip-

tions are put forward.

"Anyone can name a new shell" has become a

truism. Why is this permitted to continue?

I do not desire to hamstring or even incon-

venience legitimate scientific malacologists in their

work. Nevertheless I am profoundly disturbed at the

ineffectiveness of the ICZN rules in protecting us

against this abuse.

Is there no way to separate the product of soundly

researched scientific activity from the often irres-ponsible proposals of half-trained amateurs or -

even worse - profit-motivated "experts"?

ICZN should take corrective action without

further delay, before needless additional chaos en-

velops the shell world.

April, 1980 HAWAIIAN SHELL NEWS Page 9

Elmer G. Leehman

Conus bougei Photo: PiersonA very rare cone, found so far only in New

Caledonia, is Conus bougei Sowerby iii, 1907. Myfriend, conus expert Bill Old of the AmericanMuseum of Natural History in New York, tells methat C. bougei probably is a large specimen of C.vayssetianus Crosse, 1872 which in turn is only acolor form ofC. cabritii Bernardi, 1858.

So, who's on first?Anyhow, Dr. and Mrs. Robert Pierson of

Noumea have found several specimens while divingin that area, but were unable to indentify thempositively. It seems clear, however, that they are C.

bougei.There are several variations of this species. in-

volving a range of colors and pustulose specimens.Figured here is a "regular" one (top), reddishbrown with white-purple markings similar to thoseof C. circumactus, and a granular, light-brown typewith off-white markS (lower).

In both, the tip of the spire, the base, and theinterior are purple. Elmer G. Leehman

HMS member Phil Crandall was in Honolulu lastyear, en route to the U.S. Mainland. A capablediver and a leader in things malacological onOkinawa, Crandall was carrying the fine specimenof Conus kawamurai Habe, 1962, figured (right). Itis one of only four known specimens, I believe, ofthis beautiful species.

Some cone experts feel that C. kawamurai is asynonym of Conus milneedwardsi Jousseaume,1894. I seriously doubt them. One outstanding dif-ference between the two is proportional spirelengths: C. kawamurai is less than 25 per cent ofthe total length, while milneedwardsi is at least onethird. The body of kawamurai is also heavier, per-mitting it to be separated immediately frommilneedwardsi.

Strangely, this specimen was collected in fourfeet of water off Ikei Jima, near Okinawa. It wasfresh dead among debris dumped there when fishingnets were cleaned. Crandall said he queried thetrawler crew, who told him the shell had beenbrought up from about 200 feet.

The golden form of any cowry species has a

special attraction. HMS member Margrit Widmer, in

Switzerland, sent the photo below showing a "gold-

en" Cypraea erosa Linne and a normal specimen,

both collected alive at Male Atoll in the Maldives.

'The golden form seems to be a specialty of the

Maldives," she wrote. "I have a similar form of

Cypmea caurica corrosa Grovonius, live taken at

Lankanfushi, Male Atoll."

Do all cowry species occur occasionally in golden

form? A quick calculation suggests that perhaps 20

have been reported. Are there others that have never

Cypmea erosa Linne

come to the editor's attention?

C. M. (Pat) Burgess, author of The LivIng Cow-

ries, has remarked often that many species come in

a wide range of colors, and he warns that shell color

alone has little significance in determining species.

Recent studies of shell "baking" show what can bedone - and sometimes is - to alter colors, once

the specimen is out of the water. And many exam-

ples of golden shells brought up in harbor dredgings

have been reported. But the question is, how fre-

quent and how extensive is the golden form in the

natural state? S.L.

Photo: Widmer

Page 10 HAW AllAN SHELL NEWS April, 1980

~~

We seldom let up on our study. In the eveningswe would curate our collection, working out thenomenclature and relabeling our shells. We madeour own shell trays out of used Telephone Companyworksheet covers (manila stock), using a templatemade for us by Emery Chace. About once a weekGale Sphon, now curatorial assistant at the LosAngeles Museum of Natural History, would spendthe evening with us, helping consume potfuls ofcoffee while we talked about shells. We haveknown Gale since he was a student at UCLA, nearour old home in West Los Angeles.

About now we were also discovering the joy ofshell books. We purchased the small but usefullibrary of the late Morris Schick of Glendale, fromhis estate. This contained, among other importantitems, a complete unbound set of The Nautilus.Morris, a member of the Conchological Club and adear friend, had earned his living as an upholsterer.Many of his volumes, originally paper-bound, hadbeen re-bound by him in rather florid damask fab-rics, a most unlikely material for bookbinding.Perhaps someone now reading these words may re-cently have acquired one of these books bearing ourbookplate, and wondered how it got that way. Well,now you know; those were remnants from the cut-ting floor of Barker Brothers' upholstery depart-ment, thriftily salvaged and utilized by MorrisSchick.

(Morris Schick and his friend Morris Caruthers, afellow shell collector and CCSC member, baffledthe entire Conchological Club all one evening bypassing around, for identification, a Riker mountwith a curious five-pointed specimen displayed in-side. All sorts of guesses were made, mostly forvarious kinds of starfish or other marine creatures- all incorrect. It turned out to be the seed podfrom a tree in the Museum's parking lot, picked upby the two chortling friends on their way in to theclub meeting.)

Well, old lady that I am, I have digressed again.The building of our shell library could be a chapterin itself. But this was how - and why - we madethe switch from garden-variety shell collectors toteaching ourselves about malacology. Only the fu-ture will tell what sort of mark we may have madeon the shell world, but I can tell you we had a lotof fun and many interesting experiences doing it!

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THE WAY WE WERE:

From Pretty ShellBy JEAN M. CATE

RANCHO SANTA FE, CA - As we advanced

in our shell collecting, my husband Crawford and Ivacillated for some time before settling into oureventual specialties, the Cypraeacea and the Mit-racea. There were just too many wonderful speciesin Cones, Murex, Volutes, Cancellarias, Marginellas- all of those, and more. So we "specialized" in

all these groups for some time, occasionally detour-ing to acquire another kind of shell simply becauseit was too wonderful to leave out.

As do so many women, I especially loved themurexes with their frilly, ruffly fronds. We soonfound that we had a good start on specialties inmany shell families, so we tried then to completethese groups - an impossible task, as we should

have realized. Nothing quite equals a novice shellcollector's enthusiasm!

Next we reached a point where dealers wouldoffer us some rare specimen, but it would be far toocostly for our budget. I recall having stopped addingmuricids when the price of a rare species wasaround $100. Remember, this was twenty years ago!

It was at this point that I began collecting miters,for they were fairly plentiful, extremely beautifuland interesting, and quite inexpensive. Few collec-tors really wanted them at that time. Already Craw-ford had felt a strong leaning toward the cowries,and by now we had incorporated Lloyd Berry'scollection into our own, so we were on our waywith our respective specialties long before we knewhow far they would take us.

Regional collecting as a separate entity did ~otwork for us, although we tried it seriously for atime. There was simply too much overlapping dup-lication to carry on separate collections. So we set-tled for a simple phylogenetic arrangement andnever regretted it, for it was the only right way for acollection such as ours. All the same, we alwaysenjoyed viewing such fine regional collections asJerry Bijur's (Caribbean) and Roy and ForrestPoorman's (Panamic), along with many, manyothers in far-flung places.

Up to this point we had been acquiring as manyrarities as we could afford. One day Ed Gueguenstopped for a visit. Ed had a marvelous collection ofMurex that was the apple of his eye and the envy ofmine. That day he told us that he had just disposedof all of it. Of course, we asked him how he couldhave done this.

"I suddenly realized I was trying to beat all myfriends to the next rare species," he said. "I didn't~

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What does the well-dressed HMS Director wear to asocial evening? Why, a shirt featuring seashells, ofcourse! Mike Owens (left) waits for an answer fromKeith Zeilinger at the Society's annual show-and-tell, the Christmas Party.

like what this was doing to me, so I decided to giveit up."

We thought about this long and hard in relation toour own lives, and discovered we didn't like it anymore than Ed did. None of us knew until years laterwhat a profound influence this episode was to haveon our collecting. We were not, however, unselfishenough to rid ourselves of our lovely shells. Instead,we approached some of our professional friends andasked how we could acquire the basic knowledgenecessary to do serious research in malacology, soas really to use our collection, instead of simplyadmiring it, amassing rare or pretty shells for theirown sakes or as status symbols.

We had gracious help and encouragement fromseveral West Coast professionals such as Dr. RudolfStohler, the late Allyn G. Smith, Dr. Myra Keenand others. Dr. Stohler prescribed a long list oftextbooks in biology and related topics, all aimed atfilling the gaps in our knowledge. We bought awhole shopping-bag full of textbooks at the UCLAstudent bookstore, and set about reading them.

Crawford took a book with him to work everyday, leaving home early enough to find a goodparking space, then sat in the car and studied mala-cology before work and at lunchtime.

There was one text we both needed desperately atthe same time, so we got a second copy of Mayr,Linsley & Usinger's Principles of Taxonomy. Thisimportant book, now revised by Mayr, is a neces-sary tool of the trade, but as reading material I cantruly recommend it only for advanced insomniacs.We recall having met Dr. Mayr once while we weredoing some research at Harvard's Museum ofComparative Zoology; we were terribly impressed.

April, 1980 HAWAIIAN SHElL NEWS Page 11

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In the face of predation by shell-crushing animals65 million years ago, mollusks evolved thicker andthicker shells. But a thick shell introduces problems,such as great weight and little space for the shell'sinhabitant (especially for those that must swallowlarge, intact prey). Conus seems to have solvedsuch problems with a flexible approach to theirinner space. While they extend and thicken theoutermost whorl of their shells, they dissolve andremodel the inner turns.

The interior renovations of these animals, havebeen investigated by zoologists at the University ofWashington. Dr. Alan J. Kohn, Elizabeth R. Myersand V. R. Meenakshi reported that about 25 percentof the shell material secreted by Hawaiian Conuslividus is later dissolved. The dissolution providesabout 65 percent of the mollusk's living space be-tween adjacent shall whorls. The inner walls, whichno longer have protective value, thin to 35 to 50microns, but do not completely dissolve.

In contrast to the cone portion where each whorlcovers the proceeding one, in the spire each shellwhorl remains exposed. The scientists find that shelldissolution does not occur in the spire region. Inaddition, the space between whorls is filled to makea solid, thick spire.

Each whorl is composed of several layers. Themollusk's body wall (mantle) on the right side se-cretes the growing edge of the shell. Kohn andcolleagues observe that approximately 10° from thisouter lip, the strong, thick second layer of shell isadded. The third layer begins 30° to 50° from the lipand the fourth (found only at the spire end of theshell) begins 90° from the growing edge.

For extra strength, the interwoven architecture ofeach layer has primary axes generally oriented per-pendicularly to those of the adjacent layers.

Microscopy shows that the shell material is dis-solved smoothly, layer one first, beginning at about380° near the top of the cone (and further inwardnearer to the bottom). From the anatomy of animalsremoved from their shells, Kohn and collaboratorssuggest that the mantle on the animals' left sidedissolves the shell of an inner whorl as the mantleon the right side adds to the outer turn.

They point out, "If thinning of the penultimatewhorl did not keep pace with thickening of the lastwhorl, the narrow aperture of the shell would benearly occluded."

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KUW AfT - Cypraea turdus Lamarck is found

almost everywhere along the shore of the Persian

Gulf here at Kuwait, from the high-tide line out to

30 or 40 feet of water. It is on dead coral or

algae-covered rocks, in sand, on sand, under rocks,out in the open - everywhere.

Nothing seems to bother it. When I pick a shell

up, it often refuses to retract its mantle. Even tap-

ping on the shell won't cause him/her to retract.

Others, however, pull back even from a shadow.

Shell sizes have ranged up to 32.7mm long, 19.2

wide and 14 high.

Here are some observations on the live animal, as

found at Kuwait:

Mantle: Opaque tan with dark brown blotches like

military camouflage. Darkness seems to vary accord-

ing to the surroundings. The whole, including tenta-

cles, has brown speckles.

Papillae: 3-4mm long. Fine branches off the

papillae give the whole the appearance of fur.

Tentacles: lcm long. Brown at base, tapering to

tan at end. Eye stalk is attached to outside of tenta-

cle, about half way up. There is a dark-brown spot

between the eye and tentacle stalks.

Siphon: Brown, fringed at end, 5mm long. Ring

of papillae like straight protuberances around siphon

2mm from end. Also a row the complete length of

the underside of siphon.

Foot: Top of foot is the same color as the mantle.

Its circumference is larger than that of the shell. The

bottom is flesh color, varying to orange in some

specimens. F. R. Hinkle

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Page 12 HAWAIIAN SHELL NEWS April, 1980

TROCHUSCULTURE(Cont'd frCHD Page 1)

in captivity spawn naturally every month, late atnight, around the time of the new moon. Knowingthe schedule of natural spawning is of great advan-tage because it allows us to collect fertilized eggs bythe millions.

Second, and most important, we have designed ahatchery system that allows us to raise large num-bers (hundreds of thousands) of trochus larvaethrough the vulnerable planktonic stage to thebenthic creeping stage. The same system is used forgrowing the tiny settled juveniles up to a diameterof about one centimeter, which we expect is anappropriate seed size for restocking depleted reefareas. The process of rearing trochus seed from eggstakes about four months. Once released, the seedshould grow to a harvestable size of three inches inabout two years.

The MMOC's trochus hatchery is a good exampleof the application of "appropriate technology" in aremote and undeveloped area. In the past, mari-culture efforts in Micronesia and elsewhere in thetropics have had disappointing results. Westernconsultants tried to import exotic species and high

How it all begins: top, a trochus female climbs to thesurface in a MMDC aquarium; center, violently retractinghead and foot, the animal forces eggs and water through itssiphon; bottom, as the maneuver ends, the vulnerable headand siphon are completely covered by the shell, After a fewminutes' rest, the female will repeat the sequence. Nearby,males already have begun spawning; the water containsbillions of swimming spermatazoa. Photos: Heslinga

technology culture systems that, for biological, eco-nomic and sociological reasons, were not adaptableto tropical situations. Attempts to introduce cold-water Japanese oysters to several South Pacific Is-lands is a case in point.

Our recent efforts to perfect trochus and giantclam mariculture in Palau (USN Oct. 1979) reflectour commitment to the development of simplifiedculture systems based on economically importantindigenous species. Mariculture of both trochus andgiant clams is a technically simple procedure thatrelies completely on sunlight for algal food produc-tion. In both culture systems, labor and handlinghave been reduced, and the use of antibiotics orchemical water sterilizers has been abandoned.

In moving away from the "total systems control"approach, we have actually gained a better under-standing of the behavior of our broodstock and lar-vae. Application of this knowledge has resulted inimproved juvenile growth and survival.

The greatest expense encountered in culturingtrochus and giant clam larvae, labor aside, is thecost of pumping sea water. With some imaginationand foresight, however, this too can be mini-mumized.

AcknowledgementsThe development of Palau's trochus hatchery was

made possible by grants from the Hawaiian Mala-cological Society, the East-West Center (Honolulu),and the Division of Marine Resources, U.S. TrustTerritory of the Pacific Islands.