>From time to time I see listed on eBay specimens of Volutoconus
>bednalli with golden brown to yellow web markings rather than the
>more typical dark purple brown. Are such specimens a live color
>variant of individual animals or are they dead shells where the
>color has degraded?
>
>I purchased a specimen soon after I became aware of them. The
>aperture is glossy as a live collected shell would be expected to
>exhibit. The exterior of the shell is not pitted or eroded, another
>indicator to me for a live taken shell. The data does not speak of
>it being taken live, only that it was trawled off W. Australia.
>
>I question it representing a live taken shell because I have found
>Pleistocene fossils that are equally well preserved in aperture
>gloss and exterior sculpture having lost most of or all their color.
>Dead, beach collected Scaphella junonia sometimes have their
>original markings evident which have degraded to a gold-brown, from
>the dark purple brown of live taken shells.

Possibly beach. But it could also be acid-treated (usually
hydrochloric is used), which removes the shell surface. Are the
growthlines distinct and quite coarse? Acid will also smooth off the
surface.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
64 (3) 473-8863
<[log in to unmask]>
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut
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I want your sinistral gastropods!
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Opinions in this e-mail are my own, not those of my institution
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A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
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