Chris, I think you have overreacted to the query part of my email. No,
 I am not an expert, and I haven't been to Hawaii, I don't know the
differences and was essentially asking how you tell them apart, not at
all implying that they aren't different, or asking to be berated
online.     In multiple sources online I still see dealers and
websites using the name Cypraea  carneola leviathan and I don't know
with certainty how to tell them apart.

The old school mail order/online dealers such as yourself are very
honest and careful in their efforts to characterize dwarfs correctly.

That's all : )

Steve

On 8/3/14, Scuba Chris <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Wow Steve,
> I didn't know you were an expert in Hawaiian mollusks and Cypraeidae as
> well. In Hawaii we have 2 species that are related as such, Cypraea
> leviathan and Cypraea carneola f propinqua. The 2 species as far as i know
> have never cross-bred and are easily distinguishable not by size but from
> physical characteristics that set them apart from each other. Most
> collectors can distinguish the 2 species easily, if you held it in your hand
> it's even easier. But this format doesn't allow for image postings. Still a
> simple email asking for an image would have been the professional way of
> handling this. After all there are dwarf sizes & forms of Cypraea, it's not
> like getting a small Strombus and breaking off the protoconch & siphonal tip
> to produce a dwarf.
>
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