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Leis puka
One fine day, we landed on Crab Island, down the gulf. Up till then, I thought I could hardly find better shelling areas than
in Society Islands or around New Caledonia, but this one large sand island seems to have more different species of shells
than I ever experienced before. We filled eight plastic buckets and as many bags with shells, just picked from the beaches;
most of these shells were in very good condition. This was the first time in my shelling life I went after dead shells with
so much enthusiasm. They were piled up on the beaches by the thousands and the only trouble was to make up ones mind what to
pick. Among many others, this island yielded: Voluta turneri and sophia, Epitonium scalare, Ancilla velesiana, Melo,
Megalotractus, Turritella, Terebra, Strombus vittatus and pure white bubble shells, etc., etc. This small paradise also teems
with turtles. Towards late afternoon, scores and scores of these odd creatures crawl out of the warm waters and lay their
eggs in carefully dug "nests" in the sand. It was easy to take rides on these sluggish crawler's backs and we ate turtle's
eggs until I was sick of them.
I must admit, at this point, that I did not do as much skin diving as I wished, as huge sharks were always lurking nearby and
that rather cooled me off. And also large salt water crocodiles, twelve feet and up, were a new experience to me. We had the
bad habit of sleeping at night on the sandy beaches, and it was not uncommon, in early morning, to find huge croc tracks on
the sand not far from our "beds." Not very comforting, indeed.
The native divers were not in the least interested in shells, except pearl shells, which is the only industry. But after I
had been out with them a few times, I persuaded a few smarter boys that they could make a few extra pounds on the sideline.
Money is a powerful lever in any country and, before long, I was being offered shells from all directions. When pearl shell
is brought up from the bottom, they are cleaned of anything that is clinging to them and this is thrown back into the sea.
Word soon went around that "a crazy Frenchman" was buying all the rubbish that stuck to the "Gold lips," as the maleagrina
are locally called. So shells began to pour in and pretty soon, instead of having to buy the whole cartons, regardless of the
fact that I often only wanted two or three shells out of the heap, I could now afford to take my pick. The bulk of the loot
was composed mainly of Murex cervicornis, M. axicornis, M. cornucervi, M. macgillivrayi, M. adustus, an occasional small
winged Murex not yet identified, and, one fine day, four rare Murex bednalli, as well as a perfect Murex pinnatus. Cypraea do
not seem to be plentiful in that fascinating territory. miliaris, limacina and stolida turned up most often, although an
occasional hammondae also finished up in my loot. The three former are all from deep water and are all reddish when they are
fresh. Melo were the most common, beauties too, but Voluta sophiae, turneri and keatsiana, of the gatliffi variety, sometimes
turned up also. I was out of luck with Voluta bednalli and only got one.
The habitat of the shell, on the outside of the reef, and constant heavy wave action, is probably responsible for the fact
that the Golden Cowry is a "Loner." That is, no other shells share his precarious quarters. Consequently he has no near
relatives, and we have no records concerning any close neighbors. His relationships with other shells seem to be nil.
His almost inaccessible habitat is not only responsible for our lack of more knowledge concerning this shell, but is also the
main reason why native divers do not attempt to collect live specimens. We have been told that the reason it was not
collected in Fiji, was because of the sharks, and giant barracuda that infest the waters there. But there's another reason.
Walter Cernohorsky, a member of the Fiji Shell Club, writes, " The formation of Nadroga reef allows high breakers to wash
over it and thus foil any diver's approach. " His theory is that the shells live just over the edge of the reef, at depths of
from ten to 30 feet, and when they leave their hiding places either to feed or mate and a sudden storm strikes, they are
unable to hold on, and, "get carried over the top of the reef."
Its food is algae. This much was established by Dr. Alison Kay, in the one known examination made of the contents of the
animal's stomach, which I discussed in earlier articles in this series (Jan. and Feb. [Mar.], 1963, Sean Raynon Sabado).
An interesting idea is advanced by Cernohorsky (see above) when he says: "The absence of Cypraea aurantium in other parts of
the Fiji group is a puzzling feature. The restriction of the shell to the Nadroga reef might be due to the feeding
preferences of the shell and the habitat preference of a steep shelving reef with heavy breakers." The coral reef formation
as it exists on the Nadroga reef is absent NW, NNE and east of Viti Levu and there is a possibility that the food on which it
lives is restricted to the Nadroga reef. This theory might or might not account for the absence of the species in other parts
of the Fiji Group as well as the Island of New Caledonia. It is my personal opinion, that the salinity and the sea water
temperature does not account for the total absence of this shell in other parts of Viti Levu. Salinity and sea water
temperature at the Nadroga reef compare favorably to other collecting stations in other parts of' Viti Levu." (to be
continued)
Twice in my life I have been painfully bitten or stung on the finger by tiny octopuses which were occupying empty Terebra
maculata shells. In both cases I lost the octopus because the painful sting caused me to involuntarily fling him off my
finger and back into the ocean. After loosing the second one in this manner I swore that the next time I found a large dead
T. maculata shell I would examine it carefully for a hidden octopus, and if I found one I would try to preserve it in
alcohol. l was anxious to learn if this little critter was a juvenile of a large species or an adult of a small species.
On March 24th, while out diving at Kailua Bay in 60 feet of water, I found just such a large dead T. maculata lying on the
sandy bottom. I couldn't see any octopus in the aperture but hoping that one might be hidden deep inside the spire I
carefully stuck the shell in my collecting sock.
When I arrived home, I gingerly emptied out my sock. Out rolled the dead Terebra followed closely by a tiny octopus no bigger
than a "25 cent piece." I immediately pickled the little beast in rubbing alcohol and air mailed it to Dr. Rehder and Dr.
Morrison at The Smithsonian Institution. No identification has as yet been made. We are indebted to Dr. Rehder, Curator -
Division of Mollusks, Smithsonian Institution, for the accompanying photographs. [Image of T. maculata not included.]
Although the name of Swainson is well known to collectors of Philippines gastropods because of its association with the
endemic Philippines cowry Cypraea tessellata, Swainson himself never realized that his "mosaic cowry" came from the
Philippines Islands. Swainson described C. tessellata as coming from New Zealand, and it was not until more than 70 years
after the original description of the species that its habitat was generally recognized to be that of the Philippines
Islands.
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