Or, as I was about to mention, since I didn't want to
post too long of a SHELL-RELATED message.....

Other factors could account for an improved environment
for Cyrpaea isabella living in such a relatively small
area.

One obvious possibility--to those of us knowledgeable in
the recent history of leeward Oahu--would be Hurricane Iwa.
Its passage radically altered the sub-littoral geography
of the Waianae coast and devasted molluscan populations
for years to come. Yet, from this devastation there seems
to have been a Phoenix rise. When the cowries came back,
it was with a vengence. I reported this back in the late
'80s in a Hawaiian Shell News article titled "Happy Days".
(see http://www.cowrys.org/archive/NSN346CY.HTM )

Whether Iwa wiped out cowry predators, cowry competitors,
or cleared the substrate so that organisms favored by the
cowries could flourish, it would be difficult to determine
which at this late date.

There is at least one more local (Oahu) change which bears
mention but, again, I'm trying to keep this short.

Aloha,

Bob Dayle (a.k.a. 'makuabob')



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