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Conus aulicus
Size and teeth: The mean length is 27mm, Width is 59% of Length, Labial teeth number 21 and columellar teeth number 20. (data
after Schilder, teeth are reduced to a shell of 25mm in length.) Dr. Schilder's measurements were based on 12 specimens
preserved in the Dautzenberg collection and other Museums. My own measurements of 21 specimens of bregeriana from New
Caledonia come very close to Dr. Schilder's figures.
Habitat: The exact locality of only 6 specimens could be verified. These were taken at Anse Vata near Noumea, and the
locality was clean sand bottom, with a profuse growth of long green weed, and the water was somewhat turbid in this area. The
shells were taken in 6 - 10 feet of water from under dead coral.
Description of animal of C. bregeriana (from Fiji specimens): The foot is deep orange anteriorly, gradually fading to a
creamy white as the rear of the foot is reached. The extreme posterior part of the foot is almost translucent. The mantle is
a smoky brown, smooth and mottled with minute white spots. The mantle papillae are short and branched, white in colour and
well scattered around the sides of the mantle, but absent towards the edges. The siphon is approx. 1/8" in length, well
recurved over the shell, cream in colour, and the edges of the siphon have a fringe of minute, black, marginal papillae. The
tentacles are long and slender end pale creamy-orange. Eyes are black and situated towards the outer edge of each tentacle.
The area between the tentacles is dark orange.
I did not find any record in literature as to previous description of the animal of bregeriana. However, I did find a
description of the animal of C. walkeri continens Iredale in Australian Cowries Part I by Iredale. (Aust. Zool. 1935). The
animal is figured in water-colour on a plate, and the description of the animal as given by Mr. Melbourne Ward is as follows:
"Mantle transparent milk white, papillae few and very short, the tips with very short tassels. Tentacles long, slender, pale
yellow, eyes apparent as black dots, proboscis salmon pink. Foot narrow, the tail does not extend beyond the shell when the
animal walks." The illustration shows the mantle as an obvious milky white mantle in contrast to bregeriana's smoky-brown
mantle. The mantle of a cowry animal will run through shades of one colour in the same species, but it may happen on very
rare occasions that one and the same species will exhibit a radically different mantle colour. Three specimens of C. limacina
were found in Fiji, which had a dusky black mantle, in contrast to its normal orange mantle. The three specimen were found in
a locality were C. staphylaea and limacina are represented in equal numbers. C. staphylaea always has a dusky black mantle,
and it might be possible that on this very rare occasion the two species might have interbred, and the offspring accepted the
parent's dominant colour of the mantle, which in this case was black, but accepted the shell characteristics from limacina.
Hybrids between these two species were found in Fiji, however, such an occurrence is rare. The resulting offspring or hybrid,
has a much reduced fertility and probably is not able to reproduce, otherwise we would not have separate species of limacina
and staphylaea in Fiji. (Dr. Schilder described hybrids between C. tigris and C. pantherina in The Veliger, Vol. 5, No. 2).
Tearing up a coral-head such as seen in the left center of the picture stirs up a lot of silt and at times reduces visibility
to only a few inches. Collecting from such areas is usually for a SCUBA equipped diver.
To insure finding the shells in such a coral-head I follow a simple technique. First the area surrounding the coral-head is
checked for shells such as miters and Terebra. The smaller coral pieces are turned over and checked for shells. Most Murex
pele and both Cypraea cernica that I have collected were attached to the under side of small, isolated pieces of coral. After
checking for shells these are thrown clear of the area surrounding the larger coral head which I systematically start tearing
to pieces.
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conus aulicus
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