Hi Eduard,
I will be trying to identify my catch in the near future. I suspect they
are all common especially given how easily they were obtained. I'm sure
most people on the list-serv will be better at identifying Cypraea species
than I. My helvola from Sri Lanka looks like my helvola from Hawaii but is
it helvola?

Here's a technical question: Since I had to keep my live shells in formalin
temporarily, is it sufficient that I dipped them in water? Cypraea soft
parts are hard to extract, so will any retained formalin keep eating at the
shell?

Also, note to all: my Terebra from Varkala appears not to be a Terebra. It
seems likely to be Bullia tranquebarica Roding. I found them in abundance
where the waves were splashing up on the sand. Like Donax variablis, they
have many different color patterns within the same area of beach and are
covered and uncovered with each passing wave. Strange to think such
dissimilar shells might occupy a similar ecological niche. I can't tell
what they were eating. There are some small Donax species in the same place
but the sand bugs (don't know the Latin name, but the rounded crustaceans
that dig backwards in the sand) were numerous enough to be eligible to be
prey for the Bullias.

--David Kirsh
Durham, NC

>Dear David Kirsh
>I note you collected several Cypraea species during your interesting trip to
>India/Sri Lanka. Could you please let me know which species of Cypraea you
>found. The place you visited is very interesting because several rather
>confusing species of Cypraea may be found there and any bit of information
>may be usefull.
>Best regards
>Eduard Heiman
>[log in to unmask]
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: David Kirsh <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Sunday, November 21, 1999 3:08 AM
>Subject: trip to India, Sri Lanka, Kuwait
>
>
>>Fellow shellers,
>>
>>I'm back from my 2 week trip. I'll be glad to fill people in on some of the
>>travel details if anyone wants.
>>
>>As for shelling, now I know why no one knew about Southwest India: there
>>are apparently no accessible reefs. Shells are mostly pounded to bits on
>>the beaches; not even any shell grit for micros. However, there are shells
>>in Kerala. Where I stayed in Varkala, Kerala, the locals told me that after
>>the monsoons have passed for a month or so, the visibility clears so that
>>it is possible to snorkel over the offshore rocks and find plenty of
>>sealife. Usual means to get there are the three logs lashed together that
>>most fisherman use. There were beached shells in good numbers south of
>>Varkala in a spot where the "backwaters" (lagoon) open to the sea. In an
>>hour jaunt, found Murex, Sinum, Terebras and other goodies. There are also
>>some shells on the rocks at low tide. Couldn't leave India without a chank
>>shell, so I bought one from a local fisherman who said he got it in four
>>meters of water off the beach. NB: bring your own methyl alcohol because it
>>is prohibited in Kerala. I had to obtain formalin for my small live shells.
>>I was lucky that customs didn't insist on opening my shell pack and get a
>>whiff on the way back home.
>>
>>I found out that the airfare from Trivandrum (capital of Kerala) to
>>Colombo, Sri Lanka is about $110 round trip. So I took a four day stint to
>>a recommended resort town of Hikkaduwa, three hours bus ride south of
>>Colombo. As I had been told, there were shells. Yes, well, I was a virgin
>>to the Indo-Pacific faunal region. I'd been to many spots in the Caribbean
>>and to Gulf of California but nothing like this. I didn't even get to
>>explore the reef (too rough). Just in the place where the edge of the reef
>>meets the beach, there was a staggering number of shells. Every time I
>>looked there was something else I had never seen. Maybe some of you have
>>gotten jaded about this, but I never saw a place where there were six or
>>more species of live Cypraea in inch-deep water. No to mention plenty of
>>other types of mollusks.
>>
>>And the shell grit under magnification was kind of like looking at a
>>treasure chest of jewels with a multitude of pastel colors and sculpturing.
>>Something new each time I scanned a different place in the drift. I don't
>>know if any of it is unusual but it was quite an experience for me.
>>
>>On the way back through Kuwait, I stayed at a hotel that wasn't the airport
>>hotel for transit passengers. That took some extraordinary gyrations and
>>considerable expense for me. (My advice is to get your Kuwaiti visa in
>>advance of a visit, perhaps through a 3-star-or-less hotel). The beach near
>>the Hotel Safir International, right by Applebee's and Chili's, has plenty
>>of shells.
>>
>>Some of my immediate questions from the trip are:
>>1) What books are going to identify the micros from Sri Lanka? Any?
>>
>>2) What is a 1/2 inch long mollusk whose shell looks like a fat taco open
>>on one side and pointed on the other? The animal is light orange with a
>>bright orange and a black stripe. Lives around green algae in tide pool.
>>
>>3) Is Seashells of Eastern Arabia likely to be useful for Kerala (on the
>>Arabian Sea) and Kuwait (Persian Gulf)? Is that the same book as Shells of
>>Muscat and Oman?
>>
>>4) Does anyone have a count of the known sinistral chank shells in
>existence?
>>
>>5) Anyone venture a guess about the one live shell very abundant on the
>>beach at Varkala? (It's their version of the Coquina). It's a Terebra about
>>1 and 1/4 inches long. Subsutural axial wrinkles tend to fade out toward
>>the body whorl. Extremely variable colors: from pure white to deep wine and
>>black, some are orange or rose, or those colors with white bands. Animal is
>>off-white and very active.
>>
>>More questions are bound to come up.
>>
>>David Kirsh
>>Durham, NC
>>