Jose H. Leal wrote:
>
> Dear Dr. Avent,
>
> At 05:25 PM 5/26/98 -0400, you wrote:
>
> ....
> >     Incidentally, similar forms have been found here in the Gulf of Mexico
> >     at cold seeps at less than 1,000m depth.  But here they eat natural
> >     hydrocarbons seepage (methane) rather than hydrogen sulfide.
> >
> >     This ain't Sanibel Island, baby!  You thought Janthina had strange
> >     habits.
> >
> >
> >     Robert M. Avent, Ph.D.
> >     Oceanographer
>
> It is fortuitous that you should mention Sanibel, deep-sea, and methane
> cold seeps in the same message. This July, The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
> will be engaging, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, in a
> series of submersible dives that will include the "shallow" (less than
> 1,000 m depth) cold seeps in the Gulf of Mexico. The Wood Expedition, as we
> call it now, has been fully and generously funded by Mrs. J. Howard Wood,
> widow of the late Chicago Tribune publisher and long-time Sanibel/Fort
> Myers winter resident. We will be diving for five days using DSV Johnson
> Sea-Link (with RV Edwin Link as her mother ship), looking specifically for
> mollusks. Mrs. Wood has also kindly funded a new Shell Museum exhibit on
> deep-sea mollusks. The exhibit will include actual specimens, photos, and
> video material produced from the Wood Expedition, but I will also use my
> experience researching abyssal and hadal gastropods to complement the
> display. As a side note, anyone interested in deep-sea mollusks is welcome
> to check the summary I prepared about these diverse and fascinating
> organisms for Conchnet, the COA website. Find it at
> http://coa.acnatsci.org/conchnet/deepsea.html. In any case, Sanibel may be
> physically distant from the deep-sea, but at the Shell Museum we have a
> special place in our hearts for them!
> __________________________________________________________________________
> Jose H. Leal, Ph.D.
> Director, The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
> Editor-in-chief, THE NAUTILUS
> [log in to unmask]
> 3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road
> Sanibel, FL 33957 USA
> (941) 395-2233; fax (941) 395-6706
 
 
Good Luck, Good Hunting and have very Safe trip. Can't wait to see the
results and resulting exhibits.  We are great fans of the museum.  M&M
Huggins, Bay Harbor FL.