Dear Conch-Lers

In his recent email Andrew asked "What's the weirdest thing that you ever
saw growing on a LIVE mollusk?"  Taking a little poetic license, I will
tell you about the weirdest thing I ever saw a mollusk living on..

Three crepidulas were stacked on top of each other with the largest one on
the bottom - which is really not an unusual arrangement for
crediculas.   BUT the biggest one was fastened on a rather beat-up golf
ball which I found in a few feet of water under the n Blind Pass between
the islands of Sanibel and Captiva.

Several people that I have told that story to said "What's so unusual about
that? The Captiva Golf Course is not that far away."  That is true, but how
many of you have ever seen a mollusk living on a Golf Ball.  I will report
back to you how many positive responses I get.

Betty Jean, The Tall One

At 01:22 PM 1/11/01 -0600, you wrote:
>Dear Conchlers,
>
>I've seen some weird things growing on living mollusks: algae, barnacles,
>bryozoans, and so on. My favorite is a little Mulinia lateralis from
>Mississippi Sound, Alabama. The little clam lived mostly embedded in the mud
>and nevertheless had a small barnacle growing on the exposed part of each
>valve. The two barnacles were flattened on the side facing each other, so
>the two would meet when the clam closed its valves. Real togetherness!
>
>What's the weirdest thing that you ever saw growing on a LIVE mollusk?
>(Incidentally, biologists call these organisms 'epibionts.')
>
>Andrew K. Rindsberg
>Geological Survey of Alabama
>P.O. Box 869999
>Tuscaloosa, AL 35486-6999
>USA