Many deep water shells recovered are occupied by hermit crabs, live, or
dead.  To gain knowledge about depth ranges  and habitats for species, it is
important to record the state of the shell collected.
On a similar thread...Several moonsnail shells I collected were occupied by
hermit crabs and the shells had numerous small boreholes from octopus. The
live snail may have been attacked or the shells may have been repeatedly
bored to attack hermit crabs... the octopus discarded the shell, the shell
became occupied by a new hermit crab... and on it goes!

Rick Harbo
Nanaimo, B.C. Canada

----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles F Sturm" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 1:36 PM
Subject: Re: Beacg Shells


> Art,
>
> Then how do you explain the Noetia ponderosa that I found at a Boy Scout
> camp in western Pennsylvania? If it is dead, it might come from the
> location where it is found or it may have been transported there by other
> means.Beach replenishment? Someone seeding the beach in a tourist area?
> You should see some of the Indo-Pacific shells that people have given to
> me from their beachcombing walks in Florida!
>
> I always list items as:
> 1) Live collected
> 2) Dead collected, live specimens present
> 3) Dead collected
>
> This way I have a rough idea about the validity of the locality data.
>
> Regards,
> Charlie
> ******************************************************************************
> Charlie Sturm, Jr
> Research Associate - Section of Mollusks
>                      Carnegie Museum of Natural History
>                     Pittsburgh, PA, USA
>
> Assistant Professor - Family Medicine
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> On Fri, 24 Mar 2006, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
>> O.K., Here's one thought! Unless they are very light and/or pelagic, dead
>> shells would have to come from pretty close. Weight would cause them to
>> be pretty close to the bottom. Storms could send unusual material up on
>> beaches. But I betcha most of what you find dead on a beach would be live
>> there at some time.
>>     But what do I know.
>>         Art
>>
>>
>> --
>> PLEASE NOTE: My new, long-term, and correct email address is:
>> [log in to unmask] Please update your records!
>>
>> ---- ronald noseworthy <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> Hi, everyone!
>>>
>>> While I was preparing a database on the mollusks of Jeju
>>> Island, I realized that I had a lot of records of dead
>>> material from the many beaches on this island.
>>>
>>> What is the relationship between the dead shells found on
>>> beaches and the living populations of those species?  Would
>>> the dead material be an accurate record of the living
>>> mollusk fauna of the adjacent area?  What exceptions would
>>> there be?
>>>
>>> I have searched the Conch-L archives but found little on
>>> this subject.  Any assistance you can offer would be greatly
>>> appreciated.
>>>
>>> All the best from Korea!
>>> Ron Noseworthy
>>>
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