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Rose clam
It seemed to be egg laying time for Conus catus, as they were to be found in pairs under many of the rocks sitting next to
their strange looking egg cases. Also to be found were all of the most common varieties of Conus such as flavidus, lividus,
ebraeus, sponsalis, and abbreviatus as well as Cymatium pileare, tuberosum, nicobaricum, and Bursa affinis.
The weather was beautiful, sunny but not too warm, and as we walked along the reef we uncovered numerous eels which always
startled us. As Mrs. Wade turned over one rock, an eel darted out right between my feet. A little shook-up, I decided it was
time for a rest. Resuming our search a little later on Mrs. Wade found a beautiful juvenile C. maculifera. We were also
rewarded with Cypraea helvola, poraria, isabella, and moneta.
If you become a little too ambitious, and try to turn rocks that are larger than you can handle, you may end up sitting in
the water as I did. This provided a good laugh for my loving husband Bob and our ten year old son Patrick, so all was not
lost. Only my dignity.
As is usual when you are enjoying yourself, time passes too fast and we found we had spent almost four hours in this one
small area. We left many rocks unturned for our next trip back. So if you should happen to get there before I do, the shells
are where you find them. Good luck.
Several of the species collected seem deserving of special comment, as well as do a few species that I did not see or
collect.
One of the latter group is Cypraea ventriculus. This cowrie, found in Fiji and Tahiti, was not collected or seen in
collections or the market place. I believe it is there, but lives deeper than the shallow areas covered. Another widespread
cowrie not seen or collected was Cypraea chinensis. Cypraea globulus, which were collected by Phil Harris (deceased) many
years ago on the beach in American Samoa, was not collected or seen. This was also true of Cypraea mappa although one
specimen was seen in the market. There are other species such as Cypraea testudinaria, Cypraea serrulifera, Cypraea mariae,
Cypraea yaloka (formerly humphreysi), Cypraea eburnea, Cypraea cernica, Cypraea limacina, Cypraea maculifera, Cypraea
clandestina, Cypraea scurra, and Cypraea stolida that might be collected in deeper water by a person with more vigor or by
using SCUBA. Cypraea vitellus, seen in the market and usually a shallow water cowrie, was not collected on the reef.
Two specimens of an elongated cowrie were collected alive across the bay from Pago Pago. These were most unusual shells and
probably represent an extreme variation of Cypraea gaskoini. They also have some characteristics of Cypraea cumingi. Cypraea
gaskoini has been reported by Thaanum from Fiji, and C. cumingi from Jarvis Island by Harold Jewell.
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