On 10/18/97 I posted this to Conch-L.  (That was when Kurt was in his teens):

"................ My colleague, Henry McCullagh, has had a  similar
experience in cowry husbandry.  His animals, Cypraea cervus, were collected
by him in the inshore shallows of the Florida Keys, where they are easily
observed feeding on Loggerhead Sponge.

"Perhaps unabashed omnivory is a more apt description of their trophic
behavior in vitro (like that of C. spadicea).  The C. cervus ate
(occasionally from the hand that fed): red and green marine algae, living
sponges (a locally-collected (N.E Florida) red species with maximal
voracity), and moribund or dead mollusca (including naiads and estuarine
clams on the half shell) rendered thus from primary predation by
Phyllonotus fulvescens aquarium mates.  Henry's term of cowry stewardship
lasted two to three years and was concluded with their liberation.  (The
same P. f. were released after eighteen years in captivity.)
..................."

I think these cowries also ate lettuce.  Email me privately for Henry's
electronic address if you'd like,
Harry


At 09:38 AM 9/7/2005, you wrote:
>Dear All....
>A coworker has a newly acquired live Cypraea cervus.  Do they just graze
>around the tank on algae, etc.?
>
>Any assistance you may provide will be appreciated....
>
>Kurt
>
>--
>Mr. Kurt Auffenberg
>Operations Coordinator
>Florida Museum of Natural History
>Exhibits and Public Programs
>pH: 352.846.2000, ext. 253
>Fax: 352.846.0253
>www.flmnh.ufl.edu

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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