p.s. -- my husband swears he'll divorce me if I get
into microshells! LOL!



Gillian

--- "Harry G. Lee" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Gillian,
>
> Although I've never visited Isla Holbox, I think you
> might find it to
> provide more productive shelling than the Bahamas -
> particularly if you've
> visited the latter area.
>
> In their report on the marine shells of the Yucatan
> Peninsula, Vokes and
> Vokes (1984) divided the shallow-water areas into
> seven zones, stretching
> from the city of Campeche to the border with Belize.
> Most nearshore islands
> were included in the survey.  Isla Holbox was in
> "Zone V," which showed
> both maximal biodiversity and a transition from the
> Gulf of Mexico
> (Carolinian) to the Caribbean fauna.
>
> Where else could you find Neverita duplicata,
> Busycon coarctatum,
> Costoanachis semiplicata (plus James Cheshire's
> related un-named
> dovesnail), Dinocardium robustum, Tellina alternata,
> and Agriopoma
> texasianum alongside Strombus gigas, Cassis
> tuberosa, Turbinella angulata,
> Conus regius, Donax denticulatus, and Protothaca
> granulata? [If it weren't
> for the Florida Keys area, another transition zone,
> these lists would be
> much longer.]
>
> The Vokeses' work can be quite a useful field guide,
> and its geographic
> tabulations help the understanding of how two faunas
> interplay across what
> is a significant, but gradually operative, barrier
> to distribution.
>
> Finally, don't forget to scoop up promising
> shell-grit for sorting after
> you return to the cold of winter (I guess you reside
> at a higher latitude
> than Holbox - 22 degrees N). There is usually more
> diversity in a double
> handful of well-chosen grit than what you can find
> in a day of shelling by
> visual reconnaissance.
>
> Harry
>
> Vokes, H. E. and E. H. Vokes, 1983 [1984].
> Distribution of shallow-water
> marine Mollusca, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
> Mesoamerican Ecological
> Institute, Monograph 1, Middle American Research
> Institute, Publication 54:
> i-viii + 1-183 incl. 50 pls.
>
>
> At 08:50 AM 12/18/2005, you wrote:
> >Hi all!
> >
> >I'm new here -- a fairly fanatical sheller but not
> a
> >scuba sort -- at least yet! I was wondering if any
> of
> >you had been to or near Isla Holbox in Mexico --  I
> >know the San Carlos -
> >Guaymas area is popular and so is Baja -- but this
> is
> >at the tip of the Yucatan Penninsula ...
> >
> >If this is a bad idea I'd love to know before
> blowing
> >all this money on the trip! Should I just  go to
> the
> >Bahamas (Eleuthera ...) instead?  Argh .....
> >
> >best regards,
> >
> >Gillian O.
>
> Harry G. Lee, M.D.
> Suite 500
> 1801 Barrs Street
> Jacksonville, FL 32204 USA
> voice (904) 384 6419
> fax (904) 388 1827
> email: [log in to unmask]


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