Was this from Mark Poland? He sent me the pictures too and I was just
trying to get the picture into an e-mail when your note arrived. I told him
it was phosphorescence and we determined the shell was not painted. That is
now clear from the pictures. Yes, I think it is Melongena bispinosa. The
pictures are impressive. I don't have a sample of M. bispinosa to test.
Does anyone have one to look at in the dark?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Monfils, Paul [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, October 25, 1999 7:25 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Phosphorescent Seashell?
>
> 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.
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