Dear Marcus;
        I can be reasonably sure these are not fakes, since they were aquired
for a reasonable price, and the original  seller did not seem to know
they had much in the way of special value.   Also, the variety of
melanistic species - from Cymatium to volutes, all shallow water.
Further, some of them were juveniles: why would a person spend that much
time and effort on juveniles? - which by the way were faithful to the
way a juvenile melanistic tigris "should" look.  They are not simply
rusty either: i've seen photos of a good number of them so far.

        One thing i am uncertain about: is it nessessary to have an excess of
nickel in the water in order to produce melanism, or can it be done with
iron and magnesium alone?  And, could someone produce artificial
melanism in tanks, by simply manipulating water chemistry - and if so
has this been successfully done?

        While we're at it, why is it that some very dark cowries are rostrate
while others are completely natural in shape?  - has anyone teased out
which factors cause which?

From the Sunny North County,
ross M.

> From:
>                   Marcus Coltro <[log in to unmask]>
>
> I would be careful about any 'melanistic' cowrie coming from places other than usual. You all must remember the fake cowries
> costing more than 10,000 sold a few years ago (don't worry I won't mention the dealer's name, or in which Continent he is...).
> The shells were very realistic and I suggest a lot of precaution before buying them.
>
> Marcus

>                  Assunto: Melanistic Cypraea tigris (95%!) from Thailand
>
>                  There are some fantastic melanistic shells such as Cyp. tigris and
>                  Cymbiola vespertillio (and Cymatium piliare!) coming out of Thailand
>                  these days - i found a good one at

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1082912352 .   The
>                  people who sell them either do not know or seem reluctant to disclose
>                  the locality of these specimens.  I have 2 questions:
>
>                  1) How long have these been coming out of Thailand?  I heard of a few
>                  about 2 years ago, but do not recall any highly melanistic shells from
>                  this country much before that.  Could it be due to a pollution source
>                  that puts large amounts of nickel & iron in the water?
>
>                  2) where is this locality?  Is there only one, or are there several?
>
>                  From the great non-nuclear-but-still-wet North,
>                  Ross M.



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