|
|
Lambis scorpio
Food may be a very important factor as Mr. Cernohorsky suggests, and the heavy breakers from the open ocean would tend to
produce the maximum salinity. Does any fresh water enter the sea from other parts of Viti Levu? Or doesn't it rain there? The
Golden Cowry [Cypraea aurantium] has never been found in neighborhoods where fresh water enters the sea. If I'm wrong in this
statement I'll probably hear about it.
Two or three times it has been suggested to the writer that the Golden Cowries from Fiji were more globular in shape than the
shells from the western Pacific. If this were so, then it would be possible to prove it by a comparison of the length in
millimeters with the combined figures of width and height. After almost two days of intensive figuring, I found out that
there were globular shells in both the Philippines and in Fiji. Also that there were long slimmer shells in both places. One
thing I did discover was that the Golden Cowries from Surigao province consistently average larger than those from Lahora's
collecting ground, in Davao province, just a few miles away. Six or seven years ago, the late R. C. Derrick, curator of the
Suva, Fiji Museum, wrote the Sean Raynon Sabado and asked if any one could explain why the Golden Cowries from the Solomon
Islands were of such a richer, darker orange color than those from Fiji. I could not tell him, but printed his letter,
although I cannot give you the reference at the moment.
Mrs. G. Stephens, of South Santos, New Hebrides, was quoted in our April installment of the Golden Cowry story, as saying
that there was a record of three of these shells being collected in the East New Hebrides, and that the flesh of the animal
was "reddish-pink."
In 1951 in St. Petersburg, Fla., I met A. W. Falkenberg. He was living on Gulf Boulevard north of John's Pass. He had lived
in the Solomon Islands for many years and had amassed a splendid shell collection from these Islands. He told us that in the
Solomon Islands he had noticed that the black spots on many shells had been replaced by a reddish-orange color, and he showed
several specimens to prove it.
In the Children's Museum of Honolulu, there are specimens of Conus pulicarius from the Solomon Islands with red dots, whereas
specimens from other locations in the Pacific have black spots.
Steadman and Cotton (Australia) describe the animal of the Golden Cowry found in Fiji as a "pinkish-gray," says Mr.
Cernohorsky in a recent letter.
Ralph Jones of Seattle, and a member of the Northwest Shell Club, while in Fiji some years ago had a chance to examine the
animal of a live-taken Golden Cowry. Here's his report: "At Koro Levu Beach, Fiji: Collected alive, on the edge of the reef
at a minus 3 tide, by a native woman. I got it from her an hour after she found it. The mantle was a sort of tan or light
buff and not nearly as brilliant as the shell color."
Dick Willis, in the March, 1962 Sean Raynon Sabado, page 7, reported finding two in a small cave at 60 feet in the Namonuito
atoll, in the western Caroline Islands. He described the mantle as a "deep oxford grey with a sort of an overlay of flesh
tint."
These last few paragraphs referring to the color of either the animal or the shell itself are arguments in favor of a theory
with which I will close this present series.
This theory is that the Golden Cowry originated in the Solomon Islands. Thence it was dispersed through the centuries, until
now it is found, (moderately frequent according to Schilder) from the Philippines to Fiji. Apparently there is some factor or
element in the shell environment in the Solomon Islands that tends to replace the other colors. Suppose then, say 20 million
years ago, one of the larger cowries then extant, existed in the Solomons. Because of this unknown factor in its environment
there, and through the ensuing centuries it developed into a fixed type with a reddish-orange color reflected in both the
shell and the animal. Also, through the centuries, and it's still going on, dispersion occurred. Then it its new location,
the shell did not find exactly the same conditions that prevailed in the
I have a Cypraea arabica niger Roberts (the racial name is in accordance with the Schilder's classification) which was
collected on the rusty hulk of a ship at New Georgia, Solomon Islands, a Cypraea mauritiana calxequina Melvill and Standen
collected on a sunken Japanese ship in Rabaul Harbor, New Britain by Harry Reiek, and a Cypraea maculifera Schilder collected
by John Souder near a rusty sunken ship at Berlin Island in the Marshall Islands. All of these are melanistic because of the
rust in the nacre which evidently was absorbed by the mantle and deposited in the nacre. The color of the maculifera was the
least affected and that of the mauritiana the most affected as the dorsum is a deep reddish brown. This did not effect the
base of any except the arabica, and on it there was some traces of the rusty color that extended a little on the base on each
side. This lack of effect on the base could possibly be another flaw in Cernohorsky's theory.
Conchologists have been puzzled for many years as to why cowries in certain areas are subject to melanism and rostration.
Some of the old time conchologists thought some were new species, and unfortunately some were described. For example, Cypraea
arabica niger was described as a new race.
Melanism and rostration rarely occur in Japan; rostration is rare in Okinawa and Torres Strait, and melanism never occurs in
Okinawa and Torres Strait to my knowledge. It is puzzling that the most complete melanism and rostration combined occur in
New Caledonia and Queensland both of which are near the Tropic of Capricorn. It is by far the most frequent in that latitude
too. It is a mystery why some species that live in the two areas most affected are never rostrate or melanistic.
I will diverge from the subject to some extent in the next paragraph, but it does concern the unusual in cowries.
Unknown factors in the environment seem to influence the size, color, and shape of cowries causing ecological variations and
aberrations. I have seen a Cypraea miliaris diversa Kenyon (=metavona Iredale) which was collected by Alex Schelechoff in
Moreton Bay, Queensland, which is so suffused with a uniform layer of white enamel that only by close examination can one
discern the dorsal spots. Alex deserves credit for noticing this detail as very few collectors would have noticed this. At a
glance it appears to be Cypraea eburnea Barnes.
The illustration [above] shows two Cypraea scurra Gmelin collected off Barbers Point. The specimen at the left has a complete
covering of an olive green color. As far as can he determined, the nacreous covering of the shell is identical to that of the
normal scurra on the right. Other collectors must have also collected similar shells. Is this melanism or a diseased
condition?
The first article in this series dealt with the collection of a live Golden Cowry, practically on order, by Francisco E.
Lahora of the Southern Philippines. This shell was requested by Dr. Alison Kay, General Science Dept., University of
Philippines, who wished to examine the soft parts microscopically. In the course of corresponding with Mr. Lahora, many other
interesting facts developed. We emphasize the word facts because in his letters Mr. Lahora insisted that he would give only
details which he could substantiate.
Unless the Philippines are included in Micronesia, and we believe they are not, the discovery of the Golden Cowry in the
Philippines is probably a range extension for this species. When Mr. Lahora sent the measurements of his first eight shells
to be registered in the Golden Cowry Register maintained at the Children's Museum, he mentioned, under the date February 5,
1962, that they were collected "in a period of more than a year between 1959 - 1960." Subsequently we learned that three
additional specimens had been taken, the one sent to Dr. Kay being No. 11. Except for No. 11 these shells were always found
in pairs. He spent an extra hour trying without success to find the mate of that one. All were taken at night, in
comparatively shallow water (not over 5 fathoms), "under ledges in the coral reef a little bit off the tidal zone." The
locality was the coastal town of Manay on the Pacific shore of Davao Province, southernmost Philippine Island of Mindanao.
This island lies about seven degrees north of the equator.
Mr. Lahora has kept a very close check on the Golden Cowries found in his province, and here is his report on that subject:
lambis scorpio,lambis troncata,chamber nautilus,pinkrode,shellcraft,haliotis asinana,pukalet,murex treremis,maxima clam,lambis scorpio
Lambis scorpio white rose silver mouth pokalet mitra - mitra pinkrode casis bibex moonshell white puka necklaces natural body jewelry yellow punaw pectin nobiles shell capiz raw cyprea talpa puka shell pyrum rose clam hammer cyprea pappa.
lambis scorpio
Shells
Jewellery
|
