Thanks for this Guido (and Lyle!!): It does seem to be an elusive
species for "full" data, which is why i asked.

An idea to toss out to all: why don't a group of conchologists get
together and fit a yacht or fishing boat out for dredging down to say
250m, and head out to the Saya de Mahla Bank to look for shell-treasures
such as Conus primus?  The number of really rare and undescribed species
found may be incredible!!!  Yes there would be a risk that bad weather
could cause delays or problems, or that equipment could break or the
wrong localities could be sampled, but the sheer adventure of it all,
and the potential for truly wonderful things to be found, would seem to
make it worth the risks involved. Surely there is at least ONE wealthy
collector out there somewhere who could be talked into sponsoring such a
thing, or a group could pool resources...... or as a "plan B", someone
could make contact with the captian or owner of a fishing vessal which
trawls there, and persuade them to take them along if they pulled their
weight.  A few trawls with "net liners" to get some of the smaller stuff
that normally escapes during deep-water fishing, could yield some great
surprises!!  I have the time, energy, enthusiasm and at least some of
the expertise to go in on this, but alas no capital. Whatever happened,
it would surely be an adventure and if successful would be positively
"fabled" in the Shell and malacological Worlds!!  (A third way might be
to persuade a museum or research institute to at least partly sponsor
such a trip - and i;m sure other ways could be thought up as well:
where's a Will there are always lots of relatives, and usually also a Way.)

 From a still soggy, still cool New Scotland,
Ross.
http://www.schnr-specimen-shells.com/

Subject:
Re: Best data set for Conus primus?
From:Guido Poppe <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:00:27 +0800


Dear All,

I don't know if anybody got perfect data. It is a rare species, I had
only one in the past and I viewed only 3 pieces closely. Two in the
Baer collection (I got one of these, before he sold his collection)
and one in the hands of Danila, a little before that. Prices were
quite high at that time, now about 15-20 years ago.

All are said to be dredged on the Saya de Malha bank. This is a very
vague indication, but the Russians at that time told me the shells
came from between 80 and 200 m deep. A classic depth for related
species to C. primus.

The Saya de Malha is in the Indian Ocean, open sea. It is an eldorado
for undiscovered species. The Russians dredged there a little and
came up with quantities of spectacular shells. A set described by
Okutani was said to come from Surinamia, in fact they are from Saya
de Malha - he reversed longitude and latitude.

Best regards, Guido

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