Dead gastropods were all to common on Kwaj.  They were drilled out and
often a circle
on the surface.  Seems there are predator types of snails that pray on
others.

naticid and muricd looks like they were predators.  Cite below.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2401066

http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/naticid
  'carnivorous marine snails" Nice cite

Martin

On 11/28/2010 1:39 PM, Ellen Bulger wrote:
> "We do not know if there is a problem here."
>
> True that, the sampling method is just one cruiser's casual observations.
>
> I've noticed more damage in living shells I've collected during visits
> to Maui. I came across a lot of gastropods that were very encrusted
> and pretty well Swiss cheesed with holes. But I never knew what caused
> the holes and I thought that some of it might be other organisms such
> as worms. Most of the damage was on the spire (if you can call it that
> on a flat-topped cone.) I've seen some damage like this in living
> shells I've found in Sonora, Mexico, but not much on Bahamian shells.
> Certainly nothing like Maui. So when I first saw the load of other
> organisms that the poor snails were carrying, was quite impressed. I
> assumed the reason for the difference between the locations had
> everything to do with species diversity. But I had no historical data.
> I was just there, in the moment, wondering about it.

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