Philippines - Deep Sea Tangle Netting - Report 2 from Siargao
 
Since the last time I wrote, we haven't been able to put many nets down,
because of rough weather out beyond the reef. Inside the lagoon, the sea was
like glass but there have been a few passing typhoons, and that brings big
waves just where we put the nets down. There have also been a few fiestas
and a couple of funerals, so Ali Mang has had evening appointments, and
early morning hangovers. So have I. (We put two nets out at dusk and collect
them at dawn - this has nothing to do with mollusc ecology, but everything
to do with the local fishermen, who will 'salvage' any net they see lying
about).
 
Several times, we've had nothing at all, just bare rocks and rubble. Trying
to find the right spot is very difficult. But with the GPS position finder,
we can at least mark the most productive areas - we still have to find them
by trial and error.  We have found a couple now, at about 90 metres, and
hopefully, the substrate will continue on deeper.
 
We found -
 
Cymatiums - 2 more testitudinaria, and several very nice moniliferum, all in
first class shape.  What is the real difference between gutturnium and
monilifera ? These all have a very pale mouth, and periostraca with tufts on
each shoulder nodule.
 
Angaria (sphaerula or vicdani - see questions under DEEP SEA IDENTITIES),
but small - 19-30mm with spines
 
Phenacovolva  25mm (tokioi, I think)
 
Fusinus 90mm - beautiful and quite strange (see also questions under DEEP
SEA IDENTITIES)
 
Turrids - a couple of very small ones, not illustrated in any book (as
usual)
 
Xenophora cerea, a carrier shell, but damaged spire
 
Strombus bulla 64 & 65mm- 2 very clean specimens, with very long 'horns' and
pink tinged spires
 
Bufonaria nobilis 94mm - nice big one, but dead.
 
Nautilus pompilius 153mm - small, but live, the first I've seen.
Unfortunately it was pretty moribund by the time we got it, and failed to
revive - I wanted to see it perform in the sea.
 
Latirus - kanda, paetelianus, or constrictus ? - 5 specimens ranging from 16
to 32mm, and from dark orange to light yellow, two with white base - does
anyone know the differences between these three?
 
A little tiny thing, which I thought was a three-horned brachiopod, but
which turns out to be a pteropod, Cavolinia uncinata
 
Limas - degenerate, lazy, sessile symbionts (much like me, really) - (see
also questions under DEEP SEA IDENTITIES)
 
Haustellum haustellum form kurodai - in same net as common form - if these
things don't get together and crossbreed over that distance, how come
kurodai's a form and not a species ? It's very very different.
 
Murex sp - exquisite, the first good looking one from here - 21mm, and most
like a small rubiginosus. (see also questions under DEEP SEA IDENTITIES)
 
Murex nigrispinosus - 6 small ones, 38-67mm all but largest in same catch.
 
Pectens
- 1 imbutus - upper valve only - 24mm
- 1 varians - lower valve only - 19mm
- 1 sinensis ? but not quite - complete 15mm
 
Annachlamys - another, almost identical to the first, but dead. But both
have the umbones displaced to left of centre - unlike picture in Abbott &
Dance
 
As yet, no cones, except a small very dead and eroded one, unrecognisable,
and half a Conus scalptus, so maybe there's something down there.
 
No cowries, and no latiaxis yet, dammit.
 
A curacha (dancing crab) - delicious in Zamboanga restaurants, but this one
was too small to eat - but maybe there are some other Zamboanga type fauna
about
 
A small lobster - about the size of a tiger prawn
 
A small wobbegong shark - Ali Mang prepared it for our breakfast, and I can
report with some confidence that it was scientifically interesting, but
gastronomically as repulsive as it looked.
 
A disappointing haul, altogether, which makes me suspect the clever little
so-and-sos are avoiding the nets like the plague (see also letter SNAIL
BRAINS). But, down in Balut Island, they have a hundred tangle nets out
every day - we have just two.
 
All the shells are new to me from here - I haven't even seen any of them
washed up on the out islands or reefs - but we're still not getting own deep
enough for the real deep sea stuff. I am adding a bonus to Ali Mang's wage
if he guarantees over 150 cadupas (Philippine fathoms) down - that's about
220 metres
 
We're solving the technical problems one by one, but I've sought
professional advice. I took Ali Mang, to Cebu and Punta Engano on Mactan
Island, to meet Rudy, who was one of the first, if not the first, tangle
netters in the Philippines, about twenty years ago. (He rediscovered Conus
thomae, down by Davao). But he was drunk already when we met him, at 10am,
so we didn't get much sense out of him. However, he gave me a strange
Strombus, which is not in any of the books.
 
It was Ali Mang's first ever visit to the big city, quite amusing in itself,
(tall buildings, elevators, hamburgers, escalators, even cars, were all new)
but he doesn't speak a word of English, so I had to take two local girls
along, as 'interpreters'. It was like taking three kids to the zoo. Ali Mang
acquitted himself well, but the girls got themselves lost in the first
shopping mall where we stopped for breakfast - good (almost Western) eggs
and bacon - a welcome change from wobbegong. I let them go for a bit, then
organised the security guards to find them. The guards rounded them up in
the knickers department at machine gun point, and they promised not to get
lost again.
 
Please excuse the number of following letters - it may look as if I'm trying
to hog the airwaves, but I only get a chance to communicate every three
weeks or so.
 
Richard Parker, Siargao, Philippines
Please reply to [log in to unmask] with copy to Conch-L
 
 
 
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