Masashi,

I think they are talking about the original Greek meaning of the word
nerite.  Here is what I wrote about the origins of the word nerite in an
article last year.

"The name nerite seems to come from either Nereus, a god of the sea in Greek
mythology or Nereides, any one of his 50 sea nymph daughters, or his son,
Nerites, who was changed into a mussel by Aphrodite because he would not go
with her when she abandoned the sea.  In any case, it has to do with the sea
and the term neritic is applied to the shallow waters adjoining the coast --
the most common habitat for nerites."

If I remember correctly, one of the dictionaries I used for the above
information also listed "fish" as a definition of nerite.  Hope this helps,

Tom

>
> I was looking for the meaning of (Nerita) and found in the book, Jaeger
$B!G (Js A Source-Book of  (J
> Biological Names and Terms, that under the term (nerit) the following
description:
> Gr. nerites=nereites, a kind of shell-fish that swims in the water, was
given.
> This is most intriguing and I would like to find out what the heck is this
(swimming shell-fish).
> Can anyone explain about this?   Thank you.
>
> Masashi Yamaguchi
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> HTTP://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~big/coral/
> Department of Marine Sciences,
> University of the Ryukyus,
> 1 Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213  Japan
>