Mon

IHSN February 2004 Month Section Index
ISSN 1543-6039
The URL to the IHSN is below and pages 1 to 4 of that URL will provide
links to the three sections of the current and three prior months in both
Acrobat and HTML versions:
http://home.att.net/~w.thorsson/index.html
Please enter it as one of your bookmarks or favorites.
2
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Shelling Events (Conventions, shell shows, auctions, etc.)
4
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Feature Articles
Conus Descriptions by Wesley Thorsson
5
HSN reprints.
The Return of Haminoea aperta by Olive Schoenberg
Update of Haminoea aperta by Wesley Thorsson
Prosobranch Veligers of Hawaii by Jane Taylor
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8
11
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COA List Server Threads
COA List Server information
20
Return to General Index for links to other sections
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 1
February 2004
Month Section
The February 2004 Meeting of HMS
HAWAIIAN MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Meeting Time and Place
0730 PM, Wednesday, February 3, 2003
At the First United Methodist Church
Victoria and Beretania Street
(Talk story and show shells) at 7:00 PM
Speaker and Program
HMS Meeting Program and Speaker
Dr. Dave Krupp will speak on
Fungia Corals in Hawaii
Fungia (Pleuractis scutaria Lamarck
In a more circular form then normal, but the form varies greatly, and size can be a foot in length..
Propagation/reproduction of Hawaiian Corals.
He will share with us his extensive laboratory and
field work with "Fungia", the oval, thin solitary
corals that have a central depression with vertical
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 2
plates radiating outward from the depression to the
outer margin.
You undoubtedly see these corals in diving and
pick them up to look for Epitonium on them. They
February 2004
Month Section
HMS Meeting continued
are a very interesting coral in that they are capable
of moving on the ocean bottom. Now you will find
out much more about them in clear English..
Dr Krupp is an Associate Professor of Biological and Marine Sciences, in the Dept of Nat'l Sciences, with Windward Comm. College; and he is
also an Affiliate Faculty with the Hawaii Institute
Of Marine Biology out of Coconut Island.
Dr. Krupp received his B.A. in Biology at
UCLA in 1976, then later graduated UH with a Ph.
D. in Zoology in 1982.
Dr. Krupp teaches at Windward Community
College and has earned a reputation for being passionate about science. He loves teaching,
he excites and motivates his students, and his high
expectations challenge his pupils to think critically.
Our HMS meeting room is open to members at
about 7:00 PM on the first Wednesday of each
month at the First United Methodist Church at
Victoria and Beretania Street, normally in the
first floor meeting room. December meetings
are always scheduled to be elsewhere, most
often at Hale Koa Hotel, 2055 Kalia Road,
Honolulu, Hawaii Laulima Rooms 3&4. Occasionally, the church meeting room is taken by
priority of church organizations. This is infrequent, but can be expected without notice in
our meeting announcements several times
each year. When this happens, first look for
signs on the doors to the meeting room indicating where the meeting will be held. The
principal alternate meeting room is on the
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 3
second floor at the Beretania Street end of
the hallway. Look for us there. Guests are
welcome.
Parking
Parking is available in the church basement,
but a charge of $2.00 is made. After you
park, note the parking space number, and go
to the base of the parking entrance ramp on
Victoria Street. There is a metal cabinet
there with numbered slots for deposit of the
parking fee. Put $2.00 into the slot number
for your parking space. Quarters are easier
to insert than dollar bills, so plan ahead to
have eight quarters. The parking area must
be vacated earlier than 10:00 PM as the
doors will be closed and you will not be able
to retrieve your car. If you neglect to deposit
your parking fee, you will be assessed a
charge of about $20.00 dollar bills, so plan
ahead to have eight quarters.
Dues are due.
Your dues expired at the end of December
and continue to support HMS that brings you such
good programs monthly.
Look at the top line of your HMS Bulletin
mail label on the mailing envelope. The highest
dues year you have paid is in the center of the line
(Mail category code is on the left and your
current account balance with HMS is on the right
as in the following example:
F-H Dec 2004 $0.00
where Dec 2004 is when your dues expire.
February 2004
Month Section
Coming Malacological Events
2003 SHELL SHOWS
& RELATED EVENTS
By Donald Dan
2004 SHELL SHOWS & RELATED EVENTS
The following advanced information is subject to
change.
Please verify with individual organization Feb. 13-15
SARASOTA SHELL SHOW,
Sarasota, FL
Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, Tamiami Trail
Lynn Gaulin, 4407 33rd Ct. East
Bradenton, FL 34203
E-mail: [email protected]
(941) 755-1270
Feb. 20-22
NAPLES SHELL SHOW
Naples, FL
The Nature Conservancy, 14th Avenue N.
Gary Schmelz, 5575 12th Ave. SW
Naples, FL 34116
E-mail: [email protected]
(941) 455-4984
Feb. 27-29
ST. PETERSBURG SHELL SHOW,
Treasure Is., FL
Treasure Is. Community Center, 1 Park Place
Bob & Betty Lipe, 348 Corey Avenue
St. Petersburg Beach, FL 33706
(727) 360-0586; FAX: 360-3668
E-mail: [email protected].
Exhibits accepted at web site: http://web.tampabay.
rr.com/shellclub
Feb. 28-29
XVIéme RECONTRES INTERNATIONALES
DU COQUILLAGE,
Paris, France
Bourse de Commerce, 2 rue des Viarmes, 75004
Paris, France
(Note: new venue for 2004)
M. & D. Wantiez, 88, Rue du General Leclerc
95210 Saint Gratien, France
E-mail: [email protected]
33 (1) 34-17-00-39
Mar. 4 - 6
SANIBEL SHELL SHOW,
Sanibel, FL
Sanibel Community Center, Periwinkle Way
Anne Joffe, 1163 Kittiwake Circle
Sanibel, FL 33957
E-mail: [email protected]
(239) 472-3151
Mar. 11-13
MARCO ISLAND SHELL CLUB SHOW
XXIII,
Marco Is., FL
Wesleyan United Methodist Church, Barfield
Road
Jean Sungheim, P.O. Box 633
Marco Island, FL 34146
(941) 642-7247
This information was collected and distributed by
DONALD DAN, COA Award Chairman
6704 Overlook Drive
Ft. Myers, FL 33919, U.S.A.
Tel. Voice & Fax (239) 481-6704
E-mail: [email protected]
Many thanks to Donald Dan for this service
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 4
February 2004
Month Section
Conus descriptions
By Wesley Thorsson
Giancarlo Paganelli, of Rimini, Italy and I
exchanged Conus graphics. His photos were magnificent and displayed three views of most species:
ventral, dorsal and apical. See the following URL
to view his photos:
www.coneshell.net
Looking at the apical views reminded me of
my complaints with most illustrations in popular and
scientific books: They ignore the variation of the
posterior canal in apical view. As Giancrlo’s photos
clearly show, variation is considerable between species: The outer lip in ventral view connects to the
shell prior whorl as a radial line, or curved line, or a
deep or shallow slit. The accompanying illustrations
show this variation.
I examined some of my photos of Conus
from Hawaii and compared the apical view to Giancarlo’s. Most had a similar shape of the outer lip
connection to the body whorl. Conus leopardus
from Hawaii, however, differed significantly.
My study of this characteristic is not extensive, but indicates that there is a degree of variation
within a species from the same area, but not dramatic difference. Usually the variation is slight, and
could be considered a worthwhile characteristic of a
species.
Another variation that is a characteristic of
individual species is the length of the operculum to
the shell length and the shape of the operculum.
Again, this variation is considerable but is generally
ignored in descriptions.
I went through some of my photos of Conus
from Hawaii that had photos of the operculum and
shell and noted the following ratios:
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 5
Species
mm length of
shell
Operc
ratio
C. capitanus
C. distans
C. flavidus
C. flavidus
C. imperialis
51.0
50.0
39.3
48.6
36.9
0.34
0.28
0.064
0.14
0.068
17.4
14.0
2.5
6.7
2.5
The common characteristics of Conus that
are used are: width/length, spire length/shell
length, curvature of sides of spire and body whorl,
sculpture, number of cords on the spire whorls,
color pattern. In addition, Manual of the Living
Conidae, D. Rockel, W. Korn, & Alan J. Kohn,
Verlag Christa Hemmen, Grillparzerstr. 22, D65187, Germany, list relative weight (grams per
mm length) and position of maximum diameter
(height of maximum diameter above anterior tip/
length of aperture). They also illustrate the coloration of the siphon and top of foot.
In my opinion, the animal can also include
length of tentacle/length of tentacle plus tentacle
pedestal (the eye is on top of the tentacle pedestal
outside the tentacle). Coloration of the tentacle
and tentacle pedestal is also significant as is the
coloration of the foot crawling surface, and position of the operculum (does it extend past the foot
posterior) and width of operculum/ length of
operculum. Coloration and texture of the mantle
can also be significant though the mantle is seldom
discussed. All these factors can be considered in
separating two species.
February 2004
Month Section
Conus description continued
A
C. acutangulus Convex edge
C. hyaena concave edge.
C
D
C. leopardus Convex edge.
C. leopardus Radial edge
E
F
C. leopardus 63.8 mm Hawaii specimen Sharp
notch
C. leopardus 178 mm Hawaii specimen.
Sharp notch
All photos by Giancarlo Paganelli except figs. E & F by Thorsson
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 6
February 2004
Month Section
Conus description continued
A
B
C. aculeiformis deep notch
C. nussatella U notch
C
D
C. abreviatus 42.1 mm Hawaii specimen
Wide V notch
E
C. abreviatus wide V notch
F
C Striatus curved V notch
Note: in ventral view the raised shoulder.
C. striatus Deep U notch
All photos by Giancarlo Paganelli except fig. C by Thorsson
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 7
February 2004
Month Section
Reprinted from September, 1971 HAWAIIAN SHELL NEWS
Page .9
The Return of Haminoea aperta
by OLIVE SCHOENBERG
Harninoea aperta Pease is a small shell
(approx. l0mm) that, in its live state, never fails to
make a collector who is seeing the animal for the
first time, think he's found a new species. The
brilliant green and orange colored animal shows
through its whitish, transparent shell.
The
spectacular mollusk elongates out of its shell when
it crawls about and it characteristically travels
"duck style" or "follow-the-leader". It is not easy
to find the shells and they are listed as uncommon
in Hawaii. When they do appear, however, they
are found in many different spots at the same time
and it is as a bloom. Then they disappear. A bloom
occurred in 1966 on the Waianae Coast, and in a
very small area in a tidal flat near Nanakuli, there
were thousands of H. aperta, spilling out over the
reef beyond the surf, into deeper water. In a few
weeks they were gone except for one or two
stragglers that were found after much searching
over the next few years. Recently, it was reported
that a lot of these shells had been found in a tide
pool on Lanai Island, and someone else had found
them at Makua. We wondered if the little rock near
Nanakuli would again shelter H. aperta and a
special trip was made there. It was so! They had
come back ... and in quantity ... and to exactly the
same rock after an absence of 4 1/2 years.
Update on Haminoea aperta Pease
to H. cymballium (Quoy & Gaimard. 1835)
By Wesley Thorsson
After scanning and OCR-ing (Optical Character Recognition) the above article, I decided that
this article deserved a color photo rather than the
black and white photos in the article. Easier said
than done, however. I went to my graphics files
under “Bulla-like families” that I use to reduce the
strain on my memory in finding the scientific names
of the families and genera involved. Under subfolder Haminoea I found only Haminoea sp with
about 40 photos of two shells (among others)
brought to me by Trudi Ernst on August 14. 2002.
The station data read:
Ernst Station 020822
Kahe Power Plant Beach
40 feet: wind 10-15 knots, Visibility 75 ft. 11:00
AM
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 8
Collected bits of coral rubble. Removed shells
from sand.
My photo log read:
Fuji S1 camera photos F0470 to F0552 (old series) taken in aquarium using 106 mm macro lens
with doubler.
Fuji F0569 to F586 of shells other than
bubble shell.
I was never a great finder of any of this superfamily of shells, and had been unable to quickly
identify Trudi’s bubble shell and it was entered as
Haminoea species and I never got around to doing
the identification work, other than to establish that
it was not in Kay (197) under superfamily Bullacea
pages 421 to 432.
Looking in Vaught (1989) page 65, I found
that she had the superfamily as Philinoidea ? with
February 2004
Month Section
The Return of Haminoea aperta continued
Hamineidae having 2 subfamilies and 20 genera including genus Haminoea.
I looked in Kay (1979) and didn’t find Olive’s Haminoea aperta so got out the other Hawaii reference books and found:
Hawaiian Seashells (1972) no match
Seashells of Hawaii (1974) no match
Living Seashells (1078)
H. cymbalum
Shells of Hawaii
Atyidae: H. cymbalum
Hawaii’s Sea Creatures
Haminoeidae H. cymbalum
Hawaiian Seashells (2001) no match
The matches to my photographs were very close as to shell and size, so I now, following The Southern
Synthesis take Olive’s specimen to be:
Superfamily Haminoeoidea
Family
Haminoeidae
Genus
Haminoea
Species
cymbalum (Quoy & Gaimard, 1835
I didn’t find the source from which Olive found H. aperta Pease.
Thorsson photos of Haminoea cymbalum (Quoy & Gaimard, 1835)
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 9
February 2004
Month Section
The Return of Haminoea aperta continued
Thorsson photos of Haminoea cymbalum
(Quoy & Gaimard,1835)
Selected photos of the animal. All the color is on the animal which is basically green with orange rounded orange spots on the mantle and most other parts. The siphon is more white. The “fried
egg” pattern is on the animal inside the shell and on the top side of the foot posterior. Eyes are black.
The animal agrees closely with other reference illustrations.
References for Hawaiian Marine Shells
Boom, Robert, 1972
Hover, John P., 1998
Johnson, Scott, 1978
Kay, E. A. 1979
Hawaiian Seashells, pg. 28, Robert Boom publisher, Honolulu
Hawaii’s Sea Creatures, pg. 145, Mutual Publishing Co., Honolulu
Living Seashells, pg. 18, Oriental Publishing Co., Honolulu
Hawaiian Marine Shells pg. 426 to 428, Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu
Kay, E. A. & SchoenbergDole, Olive, 1991
Shells of Hawaii, pg. 65, fig. 102, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu
Vaught, Kay Cunningham, 1989 A Classification of the Living Mollusca, pg. 65, Amer. Malac.
Quirk & Wolfe, 1974
Seashells of Hawaii, Seashell Paradise, Honolulu
Severns, Mike, 2001
Hawaiian Seashells, second edition, pgs. 210 to 213, Island Heritage
Publishing, Honolulu
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 10
February 2004
Month Section
Reprinted from Page 1 VOL. XIX NO. 12 DECEMBER, 1971 NEW SERIES NO. 144
AN EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATION OF THE HAWAIIAN MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY
SOME PROSOBRANCH VELIGERS OF HAWAII
by JANE TAYLOR
Figure I depicts a pre-settlement veliger of Serpulorbis sp. with the appropriate larval
structures labelled:
b. beak, c. columella, e. eye, es. esophagus, f. foot, fg. .food grove, h. larval heart, i. intestine,
ldg. larval digestive gland, m. mouth, poc. Post-oral cilia, prc. Pre-oral cilia, ss. style sac, t.
cephalic tentacle, vldg. ventral lobe of digestive gland.
Veliger description and biology
When the cilia which fringe the velum are operative, currents are set up which attract particles to
the food groove. These particles are swept clockwise along the food groove to the mouth and down the
esophagus to the style sac. Algal particles can be seen rotating within the style sac as they are digested by
enzymes from the larval digestive gland. Waste materials are pushed along the intestine and exit into the
mantle cavity behind the head region. The larval heart aids in the circulation of body fluids. Eyes are
located at the bases of the cephalic tentacles and probably do little more than perceive light and dark
regions. Many pre-settlement protoconchs have a beak, which prevents the mantle cavity from becoming
clogged with particles..
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 11
February 2004
Month Section
Prosobranch Veligers of Hawaii continued
Prosobranch veligers1 are among the most
beautiful and interesting organisms living in
Hawaii's inshore plankton. Their diversity in form
and color present a continual source of delight and
discovery to both amateur and professional
students of the mollusks.
The longest-lived and largest number of
planktonic veligers are found in tropical and
subtropical marine areas simply because favorable
amounts of sunlight and food prevail and because
water temperature in these marine areas does not
vary as greatly as in temperate areas. It follows,
then, that in Hawaii we have an unusual
opportunity to gather an enormous amount of
information concerning molluscan life histories.
Who would use this information?
Experimental embryologists in search of new
experimental organisms with which they can
study developmental phenomena.
Ecologists who seek to understand nutrition and
food webs as they occur in oceanic and
estuarine areas.
Pollution specialists who seek animal indicators of
water quality.
People who seek to establish regions of
aquaculture in which mollusks, fish or
crustaceans can be farmed to feed the
increasing human population.
Zoologists who want to learn the extent to which a
species can be distributed in a specific
region.
In short, this type of information interests a
broad spectrum of specialists.
The term “veliger” denotes a molluscan
larval stage found in bivalves and gastropods. The
veliger has a velum, a circular or lobed diaphanous
fold of tissue located on either side of the head.
Around the periphery of the velum beat cilia, which
set up currents which effect both food gathering
and locomotion.
Bivalves have larval shells which are also
bivalved; there are no tentacles in the head region
lateral to the eyes, and the velum is usually
circular, although it can be bilobed or even fourlobed, as in Pinna, the paper oyster.
In gastropods, a variety of protoconch
shapes and colors, foot shapes, velar shapes and
“faces” obtain. Some gastropod veligers (certain
nudibranchs) do not have exterior protoconchs.
Some veligers (bubble shells) do not have cephalic
tentacles.
It is important to stress that the veliger
stage is only one arbitrarily defined developmental
stage in a continuum: egg /sperm - zygote - early
cleavage stages; non-motile embryo; trochophore;
veliger; veliconcha; juvenile; adult; egg /sperm.
Generally, gastropods deposit fertilized
eggs in egg capsules on some substratum. In many
species, all development through metamorphosis is
passed in the egg capsule and the young hatch as
miniature adults. By Thorson's estimate2, 75 to 85
percent of tropical and subtropical species of
gastropods have planktonic veliger stages. Because
so many gastropods have planktonic larval stages,
these species can extend their geographic ranges
and exploit new food supplies and shelter. Thus,
the chances of survival of the species is increased.
After hatching, veligers may remain planktonic for
periods ranging from a few minutes to two or more
months.
Where are veligers found and how are they
captured? Veligers are found in nearly all relatively
calm marine surface waters on days which are not
overcast. On cloudy days, arrow worms,
ctenophores and rather plain micro-crustacea
predominate. On sunny days, where the surface
water is not excessively turbid and choppy, one
2.
1
. a molluscan larval stage; shell and velum
present, foot not yet functional in crawling.
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 12
Thorson, G. 1950. “Reproductive and larval
ecology of marine bottom invertebrates.”
Biol. Rev., 25:1-45.
February 2004
Month Section
Prosobranch Veligers of Hawaii continued
Fig. 2 Protoconchs of veligers, Kaneohe Bay, Oahu.
a. Coralliophila sp. b. Vexillum fusconigra (Thaisidae). c. Bursa granularis, not long after
hatching. d. Mitra sp. e. Serpulorbis sp., newly hatched. f. Dendroporna platypus,
pre-settlemen,. g. Hipponyx sp., pre-settlement. h. Crucibulurn pinosum, two views, i. Conus
sp. j. Conus sponsalis. k. Mitra sp. l. Cypraea sp. m. Terebra sp. n. Kermia sp. (Turridae). o.
Cypraea isabella p. Littorina pintado q. Theodoxus neglectus, with operculum. r. Natica
marochiensis, pre-settlement. s. Trivia sp-, without outer part of protoconch. t. Rissoina
miltozona. u. eulimids. v. epitoniids. w. turrid sp.
obtains colorful amphipods, marine worms and a
variety of veligers. Areas which yield the highest
diversity of prosobranch veligers are those clearwater areas between turbid inshore areas and clear,
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
out-to-sea regions where channels funnel water
through a defined region.
page 13
February 2004
Month Section
Prosobranch Veligers of Hawaii continued
3
4
5
6
7
Fig. 3 is Veliger of Lamellaria species
Fig. 4 is Veliger of Eucithra angiostoma (Pease, 1868) (Turridae)
Fig. 5 is Veliger of Coralliophila d’orbignyana (Petit, 1851) [was cited as a
muricid on color photo, and corrected to C. deformis (Lamarck) which is
now considered a synonym
Fig. 6 is Veliger of Strombus maculatus Sowerby, 1842
Fig. 7 is veliger of Janthina globosa Swainson, 1822
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 14
February 2004
Month Section
Prosobranch Veligers of Hawaii continued
Collecting veligers
A nylon plankton net from 1/2 to one
meter at its widest diameter is towed from a slowly
moving boat for at least 10-15 minutes. Mesh size
of the net should be no larger than 0.33mm. A
wide mouth jar approximately one liter in volume is
secured to the net by means of a hose clamp, which
may be obtained in most hardware stores, or twine.
The contents of the sample should be poured
through a small fish net (mesh size of 1 to 2mm)
into a bucket containing a few centimeters of fresh
sea water. This separates large components such as
algae, jellyfish, arrow worms, etc. from the desired
smaller components. Then a centripetal effect is
introduced by swirling the bucket a few times.
After waiting a few minutes for the sedimenting
organisms to collect at the bottom, the supernatant
sea water and organisms are poured off into
another bucket. By repeating this procedure
several times, one is able to obtain a reasonably
pure sample of veligers.
It is desirable to separate the components in
this manner as soon after collection as possible
because veligers, especially common species such
as Crucibulum spinosum, are capable of secreting
appreciable amounts of mucus, which not only
aggregates the veligers, but also causes other
organisms or pieces of debris to adhere to them.
This makes later scanning with a dissecting
microscope more difficult and time-consuming.
Take one or two buckets of fresh sea water back to
the laboratory for subsequent filtration with a piece
of nylon cloth which has a pore size of 0.012mm).
Water filtered in such a manner can be stored for 1
to 2 weeks without spoilage.
Upon return to the lab, the plankton sample
is transferred to two-liter beakers and allowed to
settle for a few minutes. The supernatant
[occupying the top layer] organisms are returned to
the sea or used as food for aquarium fish. Upon
swirling the remainder, more veligers are caught up
in the vortex and deposited at the bottom. The
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
process is repeated until quick scanning indicates
veligers are no longer present in the supernatant
sea water.
Making veliger observations
The veliger portion is then viewed in petri
dishes. Crowding 20 large veligers (greater than
0.75mm) or about 50 small veligers (0.10.75mm)
into a small (5.5cm in diameter) plastic petri dish
greatly increases the chances of their
metamorphosing into juveniles within the first
week of captivity. If they do not metamorphose
during that time, it is unlikely that they will have
sufficient energy to do so later, thus they will not
grow sufficiently to permit identification.
Care and feeding viligers
The care and feeding of veligers after capture is
time consuming, and refurbishment of the culture
dishes must be accomplished every two days. Each
small petri dish should be provided with 2 to 3
drops of a mature, but not dense, culture of
Phaeodactylum tricornutum3a golden diatom, or
with the same amount of another acceptable
culture. Clean, smooth coral chips with a thin
covering of algae were provided to induce
settlement; also, some clean, fine sand was
included to insure an ion system favorable for shell
deposition. The sea water should be renewed with
the stored, filtered sea water every 48 hours to
prevent buildup of detrimental protozoan and
bacterial populations, to renew the oxygen supply
and to eliminate waste products.
After metamorphosis, suspected herbivores
(nerites, limpets, littorines, Bittium and cerithiids)
are provided with rock chips with algal films, or
small clumps of filamentous alga (Strombus), or
algal fronds with detritus. These food supplies are
found in most calm sea water localities. Suspected
3
page 15
. available from the Hawaii Institute of Marine
Biology, Kaneohe, Oahu, Attn: Mr.
David Hashimoto.
February 2004
Month Section
Prosobranch Veligers of Hawaii continued
carnivores (naticids, miters, columbellids, cones,
etc.) can he offered Rissoella sp. a tiny (1 to 2mm)
black snail or minute polychaetes. Trivia juveniles
eat small, transparent, colonial tunicates; juveniles
of Epitonium favor corals or sea anemones such as
Aiptasia. The food supplies of cypraeid juveniles
appear to be variable and to depend on the species
involved: C. caputserpentis is an algal feeder after
metamorphosis.4
Types of veligers found
Which veligers can one expect to find in
turbid, inshore areas? Crucibulum spinosum,
various species of Cerithiopsis, an occasional
Theodoxus neglectus, a few species of Triphora
and Mitrella, a columbellid. Also one finds one or
two species of Kermia and Daphnella (Turridae)
and vermetids - especially Petaloconchus and
Vermetus.
In clear, offshore (not oceanic) areas, one
finds Serpulorbis, a vermetid, most abundant.
Abundant nerites, cypraeids, thaisids, and an
occasional Echinospira 5 belonging to Lamellaria
or Trivia are also associated with these areas.
In March, Philippia oxytropis, Natica
marochiensis and Strombus maculatus are found
in greater numbers than during the remainder of
the year. Although a few species of miters, cones
and cowries have larvae in the plankton during all
months, they are especially abundant during the
period from May through September. Both the
veligers and juveniles of oceanic pteropods such as
Creseis and Atlanta are frequently in the plankton
of clear, offshore areas. In the intermediate waters,
a mixture of both groups occurs with the addition
of Nassarius dermestina, Littorina pintado,
Heliacus variegatus and various limpets.
A composite of photographs of a sample of
veligers which occur in the plankton of Hawaiian
waters is presented on the insert. Camera lucida [a
device that projects objects onto paper for
sketches] drawings of representatives of the major
families are shown on page 4.
It is hoped that this article will encourage
the reader to examine shells in search of
protoconchs in the many collections assembled by
members of HMS. If they are encountered, much
information could be compiled by members of the
Society which could yield important clues about
the larva of that species. A good hand lens can
yield the following information: number of whorls
in the protoconch before the abrupt change in shell
character due to metamorphosis, color of
protoconch, sculpture or lack thereof on the
protoconch, presence or absence of a beak and
general size and shape of the protoconch. It might
even be in the interests of the HMS to assemble
their own shell collection with specimens bearing
protoconchs for the use of future investigators who
study larval biology. In any event, an appreciation
of larval shells will augment the esthetic
appreciation of adult shells.
4
Editor’s [Ellis Cross] Note: The HSN
editors proudly present the accompanying article
by Mrs. Jane Taylor who is defending her Ph. D.
thesis on Hawaiian veligers. This is a
comprehensive work which should be of great
interest to all collectors and the publication, in
color, of five of Mrs. Taylor's photographs of
veligers plus the excellent figures and illustrations
by Mrs. Taylor of numerous other veliger species is
a “first” for the HSN and a tribute to her work in
this field.
In a note to the editors, Mrs. Taylor expressed the
. Kay, E. A., Ph.D. dissertation, University of
Hawaii.
5
. for a discussion of the Echinospira larva, see
Fretter, V. and A. Graham. 1962. British
Prosobranch Molluscs, Ray Society,
London, p. 467.
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
page 16
February 2004
Month Section
Prosobranch Veligers of Hawaii continued
desire that we make it clear that the “About These
Shells” box on the color plate was an editorial
remark and not her own words. Since the printing
of the color plate, which was, done earlier in the
year, Mrs. Taylor has made some additional
findings and the headings on the insert should be
changed as follows:
1.
“Veliger of Daphnella species” should be
changed to “Veliger of Eucithara
angiostoma (Turridae)”
2.
“Veliger of a muricid” should be changed to
“Veliger of Coralliophila deformis”
3.
"Veliger of Strombus species" should be
changed to “veliger of Strombus
maculatus”
4.
“Veliger of Janthina species” should be
changed to “veliger of Janthina globosa”
IHSN Editor notes: These corrections have been
entered in figs. 3 to 7
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
Footnotes below are also placed in bold at the foot
of the column applicable and are repeated below as
in the original article as they may be hard to see.
Footnotes:
1 . a molluscan larval stage; shell and velum
present, foot not yet functional in crawling.
2. Thorson, G. 1950. “Reproductive and larval
ecology of marine bottom invertebrates.”
Biol. Rev., 25:1-45.
3. available from the Hawaii Institute of Marine
Biology, Kaneohe, Oahu, Attn: Mr. David
Hashimoto.
4. Kay, E. A., Ph.D. dissertation, University of
Hawaii.
5. for a discussion of the Echinospira larva, see
Fretter, V. and A. Graham. 1962. British
Prosobranch Molluscs, Ray Society,
London, p. 467.
page 17
February 2004
Month Section
Reprinted from Page 2
HAWAIIAN SHELL NEWS
October, 1971
DEDICATION
By Ellis Cross
Several years before the formation of the
Hawaiian Malacological Society, the late Mary L.
King, then a young girl vacationing in Florida,
started collecting sea shells. Since her early days
of collecting, Mariel, as she was known to her
many friends, encouraged, financed, and
personally directed many world wide collecting
trips. One such expedition has been declared
“Probably the greatest private contribution in the
field of marine zoology that has ever been made by
anyone anywhere.” This issue of the Hawaiian
Shell News, commemorating the 30th anniversary
of the HMS, is dedicated to the memory of this
great lady of shells.
Minnesota born and raised, Mariel became a
resident of Hawaii about 1950. From the
beginning of her Island collecting she became
interested in the scientific aspects of conchology
and malacology and devoted her collecting time,
talents, and funds to increasing our knowledge of
Indo-Pacific shells. She was a member of the HMS
for many years and won an Honorary Associate in
Malacology at the Bishop Museum.
Mariel organized and directed her first
expedition (a small one) in 1950 to Australia's
Great Barrier Reef. Next came the expedition to
the Mauritius Islands in 1954. Realizing the lack of
information about Indo-Pacific deep water fauna
she organized and sponsored the first Sulu Sea
Expedition in January, 1957. An 85-foot boat was
chartered in Manila and taken to the Sulu Sea area
for four months. According to Dr. Tom Richert, a
member of the expedition, “This entire trip was
superb as to variety and quantity of specimens. We
completely encircled the islands of the Sulu Sea.
Absolutely fabulous collecting.” Mariel donated
half of all shells collected to the National Museum
of the Philippines and half to the Bishop Museum
of Honolulu.
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
Mary L. (Mariel) King
Who did many wonderful things for HMS and
Malacology
Perhaps as a result of the work in the Sulu Sea
expedition, Mariel King in 1959 determined to find
out what lay in the sand or grew in the coral and
marine vegetation in Hawaiian waters too deep for
divers. Thus was born the now famous “Pele”
expeditions. Dr. Pat Burgess, writing in Pele Log,
HSN for December, 1962, stated, “Hangups, lost
dredges, and blank hauls were taken in stride. The
back-breaking toil of the hand winch, all were
endured because of the rare and beautiful
specimens, many of them new to science, that were
taken.” Pele expeditions continued throughout the
years but not to the exclusion of other Indo-Pacific
work by Mrs. King.
page 18
February 2004
Month Section
Dedication of October 1971 HSN to Mariel King continued
The next international expedition organized and
sponsored by Mariel was the West Australian
Expedition in May and June, 1960. For this work
Mrs. King chartered the 83-foot vessel Davena
and equipped it with a hydraulic winch and good
dredges with heavy cable. An observer wrote,
“Collecting was excellent and many specimens
were brought in that were new to West Australian
science. Other forms of marine life were also
collected (shrimp, fish, etc.). Shells dredged or
diver-collected were mostly volutes and cowries.
The material from this trip will keep scientists of
West Australian Museum busy for years to come.”
In the next few years Marie] King sponsored
additional research and collecting expeditions. One
to Palmyra Island a few hundred miles south and
west of Hawaii; a second Sulu Sea expedition with
shells going to the West Australia Museum,
National Museum of the Philippines, and the
Bishop Museum; then to French Oceania on an
expedition in September and October, 1967,
sponsored jointly by the National Geographic
Society and Mariel King. On this expedition
stations were dredged at all 12 of the Marquesas
Islands, most of the Society group, and some of
the Tuamotus plus Pitcairn Island. A new species
of Cypraea was collected at Pitcairn; two new
Conus species and a Fusinus species were
collected at the Marquesas. This collection was
donated to the Smithsonian Institution and to the
West Australian Museum. According to observers,
this expedition filled a great gap in the knowledge
of this area.
Many internationally known scientists have
participated in the Mariel King sponsored
expeditions. Dr. Robert Fox, anthropologist, Dr.
Edano, botanist, and Fernando Dayrit from the
National Museum of the Philippines; Dr. Yoshi
Kondo and Dr. Dennis Deveney of Bishop
Internet Hawaiian Shell News
Museum; Dr. Barry Wilson and Dr. Ray George of
the Museum of West Australia; and Mr. Otis
Imboten of the National Geographic Society are a
few who contributed time and talent to the
expeditions.
According to Dr. Tom Richert who was present
on most of the expeditions, “Mariel had a
wonderful time working with the dredged material.
She was an excellent sailor; never have I seen her
sick or unable to carry out her part of the
expedition. She was a real sport, always willing,
never too tired to help.”
Mariel King's dream was to donate her R.V. Pele
to the Bishop Museum for research in Hawaiian
waters and to purchase a “proper boat” for her
extensive and far flung Indo-Pacific work,
particularly for a collecting trip to the little worked
area of the Mollucas. This Molluca expedition was
fully planned and partly organized and only her
untimely death prevented Mariel from
accomplishing this dream expedition.
The Mariel King Memorial Expedition to the
Mollucas, sponsored jointly by the National
Geographic Society with a grant to the
Smithsonian Institution, Mrs. Mary L. King,
Senior, and three local collectors, was the
culmination of that dream and a tribute to Mariel's
collecting work.
Scientists, technicians, and crew members are in
agreement, “Mariel was a great person; one whom
we all miss”. In the years to come, those who work
with the shells and other marine life she collected
will help us all appreciate the work she has done.
Mary L. King's contribution to science will live
forever.
To be continued in next month IHSN with an
initial report of the Expedition.
page 19
February 2004
Month Section
MOLLUSK OBSERVATIONS
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February 2004
Month Section