Uncategorized – Broward Shell Club

SHELL OF THE MONTH – JANUARY 2022

Conus maldivus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792.

Conus generalis Linnaeus, 1767

Are Conus generals and Cpnus maldivus two separate species or are they both varieties of the dame?

They are nearly identical yet obviously different. They have different ranges that do not appear to overlap. Generalis is Pacific cone. Maldivus is an Indian ocean.

Both grow0 to about the same size and have nearly identical patterns. Their shape is classic “ice cream cone” and identical.

Both are whiteish encircled by vertical flame like streaks of dark brown to black color. Both have two broad bans, one above, one below the middy. Both are subject to spire erosion,

The difference are: Generalis is glossy except in the largest specimens. Maldivus is not Gneralis has a glass surface. Madvus is porous.

Generalis is the more collorful of the two. The bands may be orange or brown or even approaching black. Maldivus has uniform chocolate brown bans.

There are interesting varieties as the patters are variable. Phillipine rarely have the bands change from grand to dark brown halfway through their growth resulting in specimens with brown bands on one side and orange on the other.

There is a Thailand variation that is suffused with orange. It is a stunning shell that does not attain the large size.

There is a dwarf validity from the Sulu Sea.

There is also a glossy white variety from the Indian Ocean that defies description, As they are collected from fishing boats the exact location. In all my years of collecting I have only obtained one such shell.

All three raffle specimens are as nice as they come. The generals in the middle is stunning. It is a very hard to find largely white color pattern that appears in one of a hundred.

Donated by Richard Kent from his personal collection

November Program

This month’s program is being given by our own Bev Dolezal. She will be giving us a program on the COA in Melbourne, Florida this past June.

Bev is one of the most interesting persons I have ever spoken with. Born in England and educated in various parts of the world, she lived her early years in a mansion in the Bahamas, where her father produced rum.

On the cover of “Parents” magazine sitting on a beach, with a lovely shell, is one of her earliest memories.

To enhance her education, her parents sent her to a convent school in England. She describes it as a bad movie and was fortunate to only spend two years there.

On to another boarding school in Lake Forest, Illinois, she met her husband. His education was as broad as Bev’s, his father being with the State Department, he lived all over the world as well.

Enjoy Bev’s program on the COA convention and if you get a chance to sit and chat with her in the near future, please do so. Her stories and anecdotes are amazing.

SHELL OF THE MONTH SEPTEMBER 2021

Leporicypraea Mappa Linn, 1758

under coral heads night dive 25 meters

Bohol Island, Philippines

No collection of Cypraea is complete without at least one specimen pf the Mao Cowry. It’s large size and unique map pattern make it one of the most stunning of all shells.UThe dorsum is beige in color completely covered by aa brown lineate pattern and a large ”map” formed where the mantle meets.

The Map Cowry is very consistent yet it is split into many specie with new names recently added to the list. There is much debate over where they are full specie, sup-specie or merely regional varieties.

All specimens form each region are consistent in size , shape, color, and other identifying marks.

Occasional Philippine may have rich dark pattern and are especially stunning. Some populations are quite pale and look faded though they are not. Also are overcast is found and had its own variety name.

Cypraea geographica Shilder & Shilder 1938 is recognized by most as a full specie. it has dark orange between the teeth, is smaller in size and tends to be elongate. It is easy to pick put.

Wikipedia lists the following but there are more!

Subspecies[edit]

Subspecies of Leporicypraea mappa include according to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS):[6]

Leporicypraea mappa admirabilis Lorenz, 2002

Leporicypraea mappa aliwalensis Lorenz, 2002

Leporicypraea mappa mappa (Linnaeus, 1758)

The Indo-Pacific Molluscan also includes:[2]

Leporicypraea mappa rosea (Gray, 1824)

Leporicypraea mappa panerythra (Melvill, 1888)

Leporicypraea mappa viridis (Kenyon, 1902)

Leporicypraea mappa geographica (Schilder & Schilder, 19

The photo below is my drawer of Mappa. All have data slips and at least one of each variety is represented. See how similaar the varieties look.

Specimens from the IndianOcean and South Pacific will cost the collector about ten times as much as a Philippine specimen, others more.

Not all specimens have well formed maps. Philippine specimens are easy to obtain so those with inferior patterns should be avoided,

This choice specimens was donated by Richard Kent

February 10 Zoom Meeting

Born in Boston, John developed an interest in coin and stamp collecting at an early age, and also picked up the odd shell during the summer months. After enlisting in the Air Force in 1972, he received a posting on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam in 1975 where he joined the Reef Roamers Shell Club on the base. Eventually, he was assigned to Hickam AFB, Hawai’i in 1978. He became a member of the Hawaiian Malacological Society, met his wife, Cheryl, in 1980, and after four years there, was transferred to San Antonio where he was stationed for four and a half years before returning to Hawai’i in 1987 for another six years. He and Cheryl arrived in Florida in 1993. He retired from the Air Force in 1996 after 24 years. He worked at the Base Exchange on MacDill AFB for 21 years before retiring in 2019.

Over the years he has gone form a general collector to specializing in several families and fossils. His main interests are limpets, Spondylidae, Strombidae, Cymatiidae/Ranellidae, Hawaiian fossils, and Florida fossils. During his stint in San Antonio, he rekindled his stamp collecting when he discovered that there were stamps depicting shells. His collection has grown tremendously over the years to include stamps, postal stationary, covers, cinderella items, and picture postcards.

John will be giving us a program on Shells on Stamps.

John and Cheryl have won many awards for their exhibits and work extremely hard for the Conchologists of America. They have been Silent auction chairmen for many years and have earned the Neptunea award from COA.

Many of you may remember John as one of our Scientific judges for our last shell show.

I hope you can make our ZOOM format. For those of you who are not joining our ZOOM meetings, I hope you will consider joining us. We do have a nice time and get to chat, see speakers who would normally not be able to appear in person at a club meeting and learn. We still do not have a date that we can meet at the Civic Center, but it is nice to keep in touch this way until the Civic center opens back up.

Zoom Meeting, Wednesday, Nov 11, 2020

November Program

The naming of shells is a personal thing. Some scientists exhibit a fair amount of whimsy in naming new species. One scientist I know named shells in honor of his cat and another for his dog!!! In addition to his children and wife.

This month, since we still cannot meet in person, is an interesting program by our own Tom Ball. Tom is a musician and has a great collection of shells named for musical instruments, musical artists, writers, singers and scores.

Tom also has, in addition to his regular collection, a side inset of shells named for science fiction creatures, actors and characters. This month he will treat us to a program on this subset.

A fun program with a little history of how Tom even knew to look for these shells.

We hope you can tune in. Check your newsletter for the link.

Carole

SHELL OF THE MONTH – FEBRUARY 2020

Around the world with cone shells. We welcome our new members with a selection of seven different cone shells from seven different countries. The cones are venomous and are predators. Most live among the coral reefs in tropical waters. While many species have a natural gloss, others are flat with barely a shine. Cones are a collector’s favorite.

The collection includes from top left to bottom right the following:

Conus omaria Hwass in Bruguière, 1792. This popular tent cone is from north west Australia, the southern extent of its range. One could make a huge collection of tent cones as there are so many species. Conus omaria is most typical.

Conus ebraeus Linn, 1758 is named the Hebrew Cone because the regularly spaced black markings on white resemble Hebrew writing. This specimen, which is very large for the species, is from Hawaii.

Conus pupurascens Sowerby, 1833 is the Purple Cone. Unfortunately the purple mottling eventually fades. This one is from an offshore island in Panama.

Conus janus Hwass in Bruguière, 1792 is an Indian Ocean cone from the island Madagascar. It comes in to two distinct varieties., one with dark brown flamules and other with gold.

Conus terebra Born, 1758. This plain whitish cone has horizontal striations that completly encircle the shell and that along with its usual shape makes it quite distinctive. This is a Philippine specimen.

Conus achatinus Gmelin 1791 is called the Agate Cone. It has a striking pattern of clouds and spiral dashes and is quite colorful. This one comes from the hard to get nation of Myanmar and is the scarcest one in this collection.

The final cone is a local representative of the family, Conus regius Gmelin, 1791, and was collected off Key West. The Crown cone has a range that goes down the Caribbean Islands all the way to Brazil.

All the specimens are in excellent condition; growth lines are natural in cone shells as they grow is spurts and the line marks the end of each growing period. All shells have a data slip with collection details. The seven specimens were donated by Richard Kent and should have a combined retail value of $60 or more in today’s market.

February Meeting

Title: Ecological interactions between marine macrophytes and small invertebrate epifauna in tropical shallow coastal systems

Synopsis: Marine macrophytes form biogenic habitats that maintain the biodiversity of marine coastal systems, especially for small invertebrate epifauna that maintain essential ecosystem functions. These macrophyte-invertebrate interactions are prevalent in shallow coastal systems, including subtidal seagrass beds and intertidal sandy beaches. These shallow coastal systems are also challenged with periodic influxes of pelagic Sargassum, a region-wide issue affecting much of the Caribbean, including South Florida, since 2011. Though these Sargassum influxes occur periodically, we know very little about how these influxes affect the local macrophyte and invertebrate epifaunal communities. This upcoming meeting will provide an update on research related to macrophyte-invertebrate interactions in shallow coastal systems. Current findings of ongoing research and further opportunities of investigation, particularly with effects of Sargassum influxes, will be discussed.

Biography: Lowell Andrew Iporac is a Ph.D Candidate at Florida International University’s (FIU) Biology Doctoral Program. Lowell obtained his B.A. in Biology from California State University, San Bernardino, where he completed four different undergraduate projects. Among those four research projects, it was an internship at Shannon Point Marine Center that sparked his interest in marine biology. Upon moving to FIU, he joined the Marine Macroalgae Research Lab (MMRL) with Dr. Ligia Collado-Vides in 2016. When not doing his research, Lowell likes snorkeling, diving, hiking, and playing with his Nintendo Switch.

Black Water Diving by Linda Ianniello.

Back by Popular Demand

You asked and Linda answered yes. Linda Ianniello gave us a magnificent program on Black Water Diving in May of 2017 and you wanted more.

What is Black Water Diving you ask? A group of divers go out in the dark of the night and dive over 500 feet of water where the largest daily migration takes place. Small sea creatuures come from the depths to feed closer to the surface and the underwater photographers are waiting. In a holding formation 40 feet deep and drifting with the currents, the photographers take photos of minute sea creatures that come to the surface. Tiny veligers of shrimp, lobster, fish and mollusks. Most under half an inch. Linda has a new program and I guarantee you will be awed at the photography and the beautiful creatures captured by her camera.

Since she was here last, Linda, along with her dive buddy Susan Mears has written a book Black Water Creatures. She will have a few copies of her book with her to sell.

Please join us for an unforgettable program

SHELL OF THE MONTH – OCTOBER 2019

A big mystery in the shell world is why do certain olives cover their pattern with a layer of color, most always black or orange? It is as if they are getting ready to celebrate Halloween!

For our October Shell of the Month we have three specimens of Oliva irisans Lamarck, 1811, one orange, one black and an unusual one overlaid with brown yet revealing the pattern underneath. Typical specimens, if there is such a thing, are whitish with faint overall mottling and big bold streaks of brown. Possibly the typical pattern has two interrupted brown bands instead.

Olives are scavengers, generally found burrowed in sand with just their siphon exposed. They are communal by nature and will share a meal. Up until anout10 years ago olives were abundant off the coast of Broward County. They were easily collected on the off shore sandbars that weould be exposed at low tide. After a heavy storm dozens would be found washed up on the beach. Wiith all the beach reconstructions and dredging in recent years, they are no more. On the west coast olives are still abundant.

Olives are fun to collect as there are so many species. Most are colorful, the patterns are interesting and varied and most all are small in size. Identifification is another story all together as olives are all so similar. Olives have been named and renamed so one needs a very current book to have the latest name. There is a good chance the name on the label of a specimen one bought few years ago is no longer valid.

Oliva irisans Lamarck, 1811is sometimes mislabeled as Oliva lignaria Marrat, 1868 as they are quite similar.. Irisans is distinguished by the heavy callous on the apex and spire. The color varieties of irisans all have individual names which are not currently recognized, but still used in the trade.

Two of the specimens are from the Philippines and the third is from Indonesia. They are matched in size and about gem in condition. Donated from the collection of Richard Kent

August Club Program

Our program for August is returning Phillip Gillette. He is the resource manager at the University of Miami’s Aplysia Resource Facility. He is originally from Central Florida. He writes, “ I went to the University of Miami for my undergrad degree, graduated in 2004 with a double major BS in Marine Science and Biology. During undergrad, I interned one year at Harbor Branch working on Queen Conch and Florida fighting conch aquaculture, which got me interested in invertebrate aquaculture. After graduating, I took a job in the late summer of 2004 at the UM Aplysia Resource Facility (where I’ve worked ever since) as a larval culture technician. While working, I completed my Master’s in Marine Biology (from UM) in 2012. My research interests include invertebrate culture, larval culture, coral husbandry, coral reef ecology.

I became interested in Marine Science as a child because of shells actually. My grandfather was in the Navy, and as a result my dad spent 4 years living in Guam as a teen, and he amassed an impressive shell collection. I used to make him spend hours in the garage going over all of his shells, identifying them, telling me the stories of how he found them. We would spend a week every summer in the Keys, snorkeling and shelling, and that fueled my interest. I have a modest shell collection of my own, with my favorite group being cowries”.

Phillip will be telling us about the work that is being done at the UM facility, the importance of Aplysia californica, the mollusk being studied and used and how important it is to medical research. We will also discuss another possible field trip to the research facility. The club was invited to tour the facility a few years ago and it was a big hit with