For those interested in the cowries:

I've recently completed a database of 2,865 Cypraea isabella
which had been collected back in the 1980s and 1990s.
All are from the upper Waianae coast of Oahu, Hawaii.

Some of the parameters included are:
degree of callosity, live- or dead-collected,
length, width, height, &
number of labial and columellar teeth.

While 'rummaging' through the many relationships
possible in so much data, I found the following set
of numbers particularly interesting. It seems to suggest
that present conditions are more favorable for
Cypraea isabella than those in the not-too-distant
past.

Live-collected specimens (including freshly-dead specimens)
have all or some of their initial luster (unblemished nacre)
remaining; “(B)each” specimens (faded and lacking any luster)
have been empty for some time. These plainly older shells are
suspected of having been alive several decades, or more, ago.
Examining the five “maturity” groups across the “Live”/”Beach”
barrier reveals a possibility of a warmer, more hospitable
environment at present.


# of - callosity - lengths (averaged)
spec. ("maturity") (inches)
47         M        1.125”
200        MB       0.853”

152        m        0.755”
768        mB       0.667”

361        _        0.689”
1109       _B       0.646”

67         j        0.711"
132        jB       0.693”

15         J        0.624”
14         JB       0.608”

Key to callosity:
(M)ature, (m)oderately mature, (_) transitional.
less (j)uvenile, (J)uvenile

Is this another indication of recent global warming? Have
other mollusks served as indicators of this possible drift
in Earth's temperature? It's something to consider.

Aloha,

makuabob (Bob Dayle)
http://www.cowrys.org

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