>>If the apertures were shaped like a capital "D", they probably were a
>>hermit crab-bryozoan symbiosis.  The bryozoan growing on the shell can
>>thoroughly obscure the shape of the original shell.  The hermit crab
>>doesn't have to keep finding new shells-the bryozoan grows along with it.
>>The "D" shape matches the shape of the crab.  Such symbioses are well-know
>>from the fossil record (with bryozoans, coral, or hydrozoans coating the
>>snail), but rarely documented from the Recent.
>>
>>David Campbell
 
David,
 
Are you talking about what we call "Texas Longhorns"? If so, I have
collected them live on a reef at 90' here in Sarasota, Florida. I gave some
to someone at the AMNH.
 
Peggy
 
Shell Collecting Trips around the world
See our new website at http://www.mindspring.com/~shellelegant
Peggy & Tom Williams
Shell Elegant
PO Box 575, Tallevast FL 34270
(941) 355-2291   [log in to unmask]