Rich Goldberg wrote,
> There is a captive breeding program at the Bristol Zoo Gardens, U.K., for
the endangered Partula snails of French Polynesia.
http://www.bristolzoo.org.uk/learning/animals/invertebrates/tree-snail
It is certainly easier to rear terrestrial snails than marine mollusks,
though I've seen captive bred Japanese Haliotis from the Northwest U.S.
raised in a variety of colors based on food made available to the
population.  They are quite beautiful with no encrustations.  Freshwater
Pomacea (Apple Snails) are also raised by tropical fish breeders.  I guess
if such a thing would take hold, a grading designation would have to be
added for natural or captive bred specimens! Rich

And Allen Aigen wrote,
>The demand for any one species is probably not large enough to economically
raise them as 'gem' specimen shells.  The start up cost would be very high
until one could get a consistent product, but the price would soon drop.  As
food or pets or for conservation purposes the demand may be high enough to
sustain production, or the costs must be subsidized.

> Coins are graded fairly precisely with books showing pictures of each
variety of American coin in each of many conditions.  And the price goes up
on a very steep curve with each slightly better condition as the best is
approached.  However, shells are more like ancient coins which were
individually struck from non-standardized dies.  These use the same general
grading, but it is much more subjective and the overall look of the coin may
be a better price determination than the amount of wear.

Both perspectives are interesting, but so different! In the case of
butterflies, it's the largest and most beautiful forms that are chosen for
captive breeding; small forms, though often equally beautiful to a close
observer, are evidently not as salable. The economic incentive can lead to
increased knowledge about the animals' behavior and needs, which in turn
helps to make it easier to raise members of similar species. Evidently there
is a bootstrapping aspect to this -- the more experience you have in raising
animals, the more skillful you become.

Would collectors prize a farm-bred but perfect snail as much as a wild one?
I suspect that the perfect wild specimen would be worth more, just as a
perfect wild pearl is worth more than a cultivated one. The market for wild
gems would not be destroyed. But I also think that most collectors would be
delighted to have some affordable gem-quality shells.

Andy

Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama




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