It's not the price that differentiates the species. When i first collected
this species years ago i first noticed the shell was shiny, not dull as
granulata. The papillae/dentritic structure was also slightly different
and the anterior canals were slightly rostrated. Ok, i thought it was a
morpher, a crossing of species. Latter i started to find others that
shared the exact same differences. A cross-bred variant would have
slightly varrying features in each specimen, but these were all uniform.

Bob Dayle, also known as "Makua Bob" of The Captured Cowry web site also
noted this and worked with me before leaving Hawaii. He actually posted
live videos of this species on his site. Now my talents are in finding
shells, not describing why they are different from other species. I leave
that to the Malacologist. I view the shell and animal, i can tell it's
different, but describing those features in the correct terminology isn't
my strong point. It took me years to combine what specimens i had with
local friends in Hawaii to create a "original species base" to operate on.

Dr Moretzsohn was kind enough to take this on. After his study i returned
all the specimens back to the divers except for the designated types that
i gave up, as it was my project. At first i offered the name "hapa" which
meant half local/half foreign in Hawaiian. Latter it was changed
to "hinuhinu" which mean glossy/shiny in Hawaiian.

Basically what separates this from the dull surfaced granulata is it's
shiny surface, rostrated extremities(anterior extremity is horizontal, not
convex), fewer columellar teeth, fewer intercalated basal ribs, and other
slight differnces regarding depressed shape and rounded marginal
callousing with dorsal line angulation. What wasn't included in the desc
differences is the color of granulata is dark pinkish red compared to the
caramel creame color of hinuhinu.

Basically when you hold both species in your hands, the diffences are
quite noticeable. By the way i only use this email for Conch-L, it isn't
my normal corresponding email. Steven, i caught a glimpse of your email
before deleting so this reply was meant mostly for your inquiry.  Chris

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