David,

Perhaps the classic rarity delivered by hermit crab was the case of
Hugh Cuming who found a Murex (Siratus) alabaster on the shore while
walking on a Philippine island in the 1830's? (sorry about the
ambiguity but my copy of Dance's "History...." is on loan).  While I
don't recall if it was stated as being crabbed, given the depth at
which this species normally lives the only reasonable assumption was
that a crab (or a series thereof) moved it into increasingly shallower
waters where Cuming found it.  It was the only specimen known from its
naming by Reeve in 1845 until they began to be brought up in the late
1960's, early 1970's.  I saw a dozen of them on a shelf at a roadside
eatery on Panglao Island, Bohol in June, 1972.  Hugh would have been
jealous.

Perhaps someone else is aware if the Cuming specimen was indeed
crabbed.  If so, please let us know.

Jim Brunner

On Jun 12, 2012, at 11:16 PM, David Kirsh wrote:

> It might be interesting to see what shells listers have found that
> they wouldn't ordinarily have found except through the courtesy of
> hermit crab habitation.
>
> There was one notable half-day of collecting at one of the Eleuthera
> beaches when I started off finding a crabbed Cassis flammea in four
> feet of water in good shape (ten minutes later, a live C.
> madagascariensis in 12 feet). Then, a quick check of intertidal crab
> colonies on rocks at the same beach yielded Fastigiella carinata,
> Calliostoma pulchrum, some crimson Tegula gruneri, Splendrillia
> fucata and Strictispira paxillus, among others. (The coral pink
> Conus jaspideus was not crabbed.)
>
> That was a good half-day of shelling. Thanks, hermits!
>
> David Kirsh
> Durham, NC
>
> Slavery is the legal fiction that a
> Person is Property. Corporate
> Personhood is the legal fiction that
> Property is a Person.
>
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