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Leis puka
Back on board the boat, with wet suits stripped off and a cup of hot coffee spreading a glow inside us, we examine the catch.
Out came the Gorgonia. Tenderly, piece by piece, it is laid on the deck. I find I have four different colours - red, pink,
yellow, and orange. To think that these colours come from the relatively cold environment at the bottom of the harbour seemed
incredible to me. Before this I had always connected colour with warm tropical waters. But here within my reach, almost at my
front door, was the living, intricately grown beauty of another world. As I placed the coral back in the bag I saw a small
object hanging by a thread of sticky substance that slowly stretched to the deck. I placed my hand beneath it and discovered
my first little "gem-of-the-sea," a gorgonian shell. Feverishly I searched through my bag and found nine of these beautiful
little shells representing three species.
The five months of snorkel and scuba training each weekend with the B.S.A.C. of Sydney, the knowledge gained, tests passed,
the new-found friends who had given their time to make a diver out of me --- here was my reward. As a scuba shell collector
I'd found my first real prize. Since that day my life has slowly but surely centered around the sea and all its marine
inhabitants. Although I have found many strange and wonderful specimens, none means more to me than those little Primovula
which started me on the way to the happiest two years of my life.
For the benefit of the Sean Raynon Sabado readers who do not take the Australian Journal, we are reprinting portions of Dr.
Kay's anatomical notes on Cypraea aurantium Gmelin.
"In June, 1962, I received a single preserved specimen of the golden cowry, Cypraea aurantium Gmelin, from Mr. F. Lahore of
the Philippine Islands. The lack of anatomical knowledge of this species is in itself reason for a note on its anatomy,
particularly since there are differences of opinion concerning the relationships of C. aurantium. In the course of the study
it became apparent that C. aurantium resembles eight Indo-Pacific species {C. argus, C. carneola, C. leviathan, C. lynx, C.
reevei, C. schilderorum, C. sulcidentata and C. vitellus} in radular pattern, mantle characters, and genitalia. A survey of
the literature disclosed that all nine species have been at one time or another associated with the cypraeid subgenus Lyncina
of Tröschel (1863).
"Mantle: Preserved the mantle is grey-black relieved by reticulations of white. The mantle is thick and finely plicate, the
plications granulated by small pustules. The papillae are fairly prominent, sparse medially and more numerous near the foot.
As in the preceding species {C. argus} there are two types of processes, some small (1 mm.) and simply conical, the others
larger (2 mm.) and dendritic; both forms are equally intermingled. The siphon is simply fringed with 20 short, blunt
serrations; on each side of the siphon there is a cluster of large, long (3 mm.) conical and dendritic processes; these are
more numerous and larger on the left edge of the siphon than on the right.
"On the basis of radular pattern, the nine species fall into Tröschel's subgenus Lyncina. Tröschel (1863) did not further
characterize his subgenus anatomically. The present study discloses these additional features which appear to be common to
the cowries bearing rounded or semicircular median radular teeth: the mantle is plicate and occasionally granular; the
papillae are of two types, small, conical processes and larger, dendritic tufts; the siphon is short and fringed with a
single row of evenly spaced serrations which are of uniform size; and the mantle color ranges from grey to black or brown,
mottled with white or cream, with papillae which are cream or yellow. The cowries which are characterized by these features
appear to be restricted to the Indo-West Pacific, four (C. argus, C. carneola, C. lynx, and C. vitellus) are widely
distributed within the province; three (C. aurantium, C. schilderorum, and C. leviathan) are limited in their distribution to
the Pacific; and one (C. sulcidentata) is known only from the Philippine Islands."
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