Dear Art and all,
I would like to put my two cents in here as you have
finally hit on a subject I like!
I spent 6 1/2 years in Kuwait. During that time the man and
wife team (Sorry I can't remenber their names, the
Taylor's?) were brought in by the government to photograph
the sea life of Kuwait. One of the tapes that will never
leave my mind was of about two dozen Murex scolopax in a
pack extended from two to six inches above the bottom
hunting for prey. Hence my opinion of a pack. They were up
as far as their size would allow to clear obsticals. When
one found a bivalve they all spread out in the search. I
think the spines are to keep out the others and the smaller
ones in between are for smaller carnivors that can get in
between these.
All of this photography was done with the assistance of our
dive club, Kuwait mantas.
I hope this perks up other observers memories. I will never
forget the sight. As a side note, we were not allowed to
collect anything during these dives.
Fred
 
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> From: MR ART WEIL <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: New subjects
> Date: Monday, January 26, 1998 9:55 AM
>
> Dear Kurt et al;-
>      Thank you for the reply. It seems that our present
state does
> simply leave divisions in the eye of the beholder---or
under his
> microscope.
>      Here's something else I've wondered about. I have
this lovely
> Murex pecten with its great spikes and a few other almost
similar
> species. The spikes obviously serve as protection---but
against what?
> The spikes also probably keep the mollusk from doing much
digging to
> get away from preditors. Do other mollusks living in a
similar biome
> have other protections against similar predators? Do the
appendages
> on a carrier shell serve as protection---or just
camoflage?
>     You remember TV used to have the "Answer Man". I'm
the "Question
> Man".
>              Art