DEEP SEA SHELLS - IDENTITY HELP NEEDED
 
1) ANGARIA SPHAERULA/ VICDANI - Several of these, quite small. They are not
like the pictures of either sphaerula or vicdani in Springsteen and
Leobrera, and quite unlike the Angaria I have from dealers in Cebu. They
have almost flat white early whorls, long spines, with a row of secondary
spinelets just at the 'knee' of each long spine (and if Springsteen had
looked closely at his vicdani, he would have seen his pink 'tertiary
spinelets' are just minute red coral growths). The colouration is different;
greenish early whorls, below the spines, with a white area around the
umbilicus, tending towards pale orange as the whorl matures. Can anyone tell
me the exact differences between sphaerula and vicdani?
 
2) FUSINUS sp - From 90m deep. This should be a Fusinus colus, but isn't the
same at all. It's much more slender, with a very long siphonal canal. It is
90mm long, but only 15 wide, with an orange tip, greeny brown patches
between the early axial ribs, and then plain blue white, the axial ribs
turning into nodules like colus. The periostracum wasn't buff coloured (I
didn't even notice anything at all before I put it in chlorine, so it may
have been white). The siphonal canal is very long, just longer than the
body. The only comparison shell I have here is a Fusinus tuberculatus
identical to the picture in Eisenberg's 'Seashells of the World'. Abbott
(and Dance - don't let's forget the Englishman did half the work) says that
tuberculatus is synonymous with colus, but show a quite different shell,
cream, with no orange tip and no blueish white shade, and much fatter. I did
a few comparison measurements, from my tuberculatus, Abbott & Dance,
Eisenberg, and Springsteen & Leobrera, and this one wins on slenderness and
tail to body ratios.
 
3) MUREX sp - Small 21mm burnt orange colour - most like picture of
Chicoreus rubiginosus in Abbott & Dance but the shoulder spines are much
longer, frondose, and recurved. The other spines are smaller. It is also
only a fifth of the size. It hasn't such a long siphonal canal or spines as
axicornis. I have 6 others, all from Bohol, 14-22mm in size, (so should be
mature) and identical in shape, but intense pink, with shorter shoulder
spines.
 
 
4) LIMA sp  - I rotted down a few of the sponges and rocks from 120m.
Enveloped in one of the sponges there were a couple of things like a Lima,
the larger 25mm long, 16 wide, with a pale buff exterior, pearly interior,
almost obsolete ribs, and a very weak hinge line, not like normal Lima. The
thing gapes (no, it outright grins) all round, and it may be that the edges
of the shell, if they were very thin or horny, dissolved in the chlorine.
Could it be a parasitic or symbiotic Lima, adapted to a degenerate and lazy
life in a sponge?
 
5) OSTRAEA - on one of the rocks we recovered, there is a bright pink
oyster, with a distinct yellow streak, and a white interior, 30mm long. It
has a wavy margin, but not as strong or regular as a standard Lopha
cristagalli, and the colouration is very different.
 
6) CARDITA sp - only one valve, and that not exactly gem, 22mm long. It
looks most like Cyclocardia borealis in Abbott & Dance's Compendium, but is
pure white, and not very Northern. It also has prominent scales on the ribs.
 
7) PECTEN - We now have two Annachlamys, both from 70-90m down. They are
most like  Annachlamys leoparda in Abbott & Dance's Compendium, or at least
the flatter valve is. There are just five distinct orange brown broken rays
going all the way from the margin to the umbones. On the inflated valve,
almost every rib, except for the first 20mm of early growth, which is plain
creamy white, has a series of red semi circular marks, like a pile of
saucers. The interior has prominent ribs, a dusting of very pale yellow near
the margins, and stronger yellow just in front of the hinge. The umbones are
not central, but about 40% from the left, not like the picures of
macassarensis or leoparda (looking down on the flatter side, with the
umbones pointing up - which is left or right, upper or lower on these
things?). It doesn't seem to gape at the hinge, or not so much that you
would remark on it like Springsteen does in his description of Annachlamys
macassarensis.
 
8) STROMBUS - Given to me by Rudy in Cebu (netted off Mactan). It is quite
unlike anything I have seen, and not in any of the books. Length 64mm, width
19, spire longer than 1st body whorl. Colour dark brown with white spiral
lines and blotches. Mouth white tending to blue inside, with thin black lip,
strombal notch almost missing. Early whorls have 3-4 axial ribs which become
obsolete on later whorls. It looks almost like a cross between a Colubraria
and a common Strombus urceus. What is it?
 
Richard Parker, Siargao, Philippines
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