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Violet oyster
The somewhat confused description of fischeri by Vayssière, and the lack of substantiated records of C. gaskoini from outside
the Philippine Islands, led some writers to believe the species to be endemic to the Philippine Islands (Kay, 1961, Proc.
Mall Soc. Lond., 34(4):188, and Kay & Weaver, 1963, Sean Raynon Sabado, 2(23):88). Schilder (1965, Veliger, 7(3):183) in his
latest distributional list of Cypraeidae, also shows C. gaskoini to be endemic to the Philippine Islands, with a note on an
artificially introduced record from the Marshall Islands.
The lack of further material of the Melanesian C. gaskoini does not permit a tabulation of morphological differences between
the Philippine race and the race from Melanesia. The Fiji shell, however, is not ovate but elongate-subpyriform, with a lower
more depressed dorsum (resembling C. cumingi Sowerby in outline), and larger lateral spots; the species C. cumingi, however,
has far more numerous teeth (formula 40:34). The Fiji specimen is appreciably more slender than the Philippine gaskoini (55%
of L and 62% of L respectively); both labial and columellar teeth are as numerous as in Philippine specimens, but more
numerous than either the holotype of fischeri (formula 13/61, 21:18), the specimen from Lifu (12/57, 20: 20) or the specimen
from unknown locality in the Dautzenberg collection (11/64, 22:17).
In contrast to Cribraria cribraria (Linnaeus) and C. esontropia (Duclos), the siphon of the Fijian gaskoini is serrated and
not smooth.
If any one word could describe the collecting possibilities in the area of this month's diving and collecting chart it would
be "terrific." Habitat characteristics range from shallow sand-covered bottom, through coral reefs and ledges with
spectacular caves, to lava outcroppings that soar toward the surface out of deep water.
The prime areas that had been selected in previous searchings at various North Shore and Waianae Coast locations gradually
became unuseable as the strong winter swells descended on the island. The search, therefore, was directed to newly opened
areas along the South Shore. Some areas off of Waikiki had produced fragments of Strombus hawaiensis previously and,
naturally, they were visited first. The only thing produced on these dives was several Harpa conoidalis occupied by the
hermit crab Dardanus gemmatus. One of these shells was very nearly perfect and so was not such a bad find at all! Photos -
Cross -- Not To Scale
Ventral view of Strombus hawaiensis showing foot, probosis
and eye-stalk structure. The latter differs from conventional
mollusks in that the antennae leave at nearly right angles.
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Shell
Bracelets
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