Dear Debbie, Helmut, et al.,

This snail has taken an evolutionary trend within the Muricoidea to the
extreme.  Among certain stocks in this group there appears to be a tendency
toward enlargement of the aperture, probably to allow better adherence to
the substrate on wave-dashed high-energy shorelines.  C. c. is almost ALL
aperture, rsembling a limpet or abalone.  It goes by the name "loco" in its
native Chile.

Louie Marincovich (Intertidal mollusks of Inquique, Chile Natural History
Museum Los Angeles County Science Bulletin 16: 1-19 + v. Feb. 20.) cites
"(Bruguière, 1789)," for the original description.  I cannot resolve this
discrepancy on the date.

A marvelous and well-written account of this species appeared a few years
back; it touches on all the aspects the anonymous petitioner listed:

DiSalvo, Louis H. 1994.  Adiós, Locos. Natural History [vol?]. October.

Harry


At 07:56 AM 9/26/99 PDT, you wrote:
>Concholepas concholepas (Bruguière, 1792) belongs to the
>family Muricidae and sbufamily Rapaninae. Will be around
>6 cm large.
>More I've to find out again.
>Helmut from Innsbruck.
>
>Helmut Nisters
>Franz-Fischer-Str. 46
>A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
>phone and fax: 0043 / 512 / 57 32 14
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>url: www.netwing.at/nisters/
>
>or
>
>Natural History Department of the
>Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Innsbruck
>malacological collection
>Feldstr. 11a
>A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
>phone: 0043 / 512 / 58 72 86-37
>
>----------
>I have had a request for information on Concholepus concholepus.
>
>Does anyone have any information on it?  Supposedly it is a snail
>which is native to the coastal waters of Chile.  If you know of any
>papers or reports on the snail, please let me know (offline).  This is
>for a request I received for a  student.
>
>
>Concholepus concholepus
>    - coast of Chile
>    - in decline
>    - important food fishery exploited by artisanal fishers
>
>
>
>Required information
>    - information about it
>    - issues around it
>    - it's biology
>    - population
>    - catch statistics
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>Debbie
> <><
>
Harry G. Lee
Suite 500
1801 Barrs St.
Jacksonville, Fl. 32204
USA   904-384-6419
<[log in to unmask]>
Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/wfrank/jacksonv.htm

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