Hello Conch-L'ers,
I recently posted a request for help in identifying a shell, a picture of
which was posted on Bret Raines' web site.  Andrew kindly identified it as
Melongena bispinosa.  I thought you might be interested in the story of this
shell.  A gentleman contacted the American Museum of Natural History, who
referred him to me (probably, I suspect, as a result of a recent article I
wrote on fluorescence in shells).  The man said he has a basket of shells in
his bathroom, and he recently noticed that one of the shells "glowed in the
dark" for several minutes after the room lights were turned off.  He wanted
to know if I had ever heard of this phenomenon, or if he had made a
"discovery".  I e-mailed him back and as diplomatically as possible asked
how much experience he has with shells, and if he was sure the shell in
question was real, and not a manmade copy.  He was very forthright and told
me he has no experience with shells whatsoever, but that he thought the
shell looked real.  Subsequently he photographed the specimen and sent me
several images.  I also thought the shell looked real, but didn't recognize
the species, so I made a composite of his images, and asked Bret to post it
on his site.  So, now I know the species - but I still don't know why the
shell glows in the dark.  Maybe it is due to some kind of alga or
microorganism that is dried on the shell?  Or could it actually be a
characteristic of the species?  I don't have a specimen of this species on
hand.  Does anyone have a specimen which they can check to see if it
exhibits phosphorescence?  Most recently, the owner of the shell has sent me
some images which he captured by doing time exposures in the dark, totally
by the light emitted by the shell.  Incidentally, the difference between
phosphorescence and fluorescence, in practical terms, is that
phosphorescence persists after the incident radiation has been removed.
Regards,
Paul M.