>  > However getting a specimen directly from a fisherman would be a whole
>>  other ballgame... "smuggled", as it's illegal for them to sell ANY
>>  chank shell to anyone but an official buyer.
>
>That's interesting because I bought my right-handed chank directly from a
>fisherman who had been using it as a prayer object in his seaside hut in
>Kerala, India. It was fresh dead: a fly buzzed out of it as I held it
>reverently.

Well, they're not SUPPOSED to... but officials aren't going to search
every boat every time it comes in.

>And to think I could have been clapped in jail in southern India.

Not you but the seller.

I don't know why this law exists... the animals itself isn't
protected, and it's just the shell the law covers. The shells are cut
up for buttons, bangles & ornaments... what a waste!
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<[log in to unmask]>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut

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