Dear Wesly
 
it will be possible for you to organize me specimens of dead Cypraea
semiplota for the museums collection of the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck as donation. I would be very grateful if
you can spare for me one or two specimen of this nice shells.
 
yours sincerly Helmut Nisters
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
 
museums land-address:
 
Naturwissenschaften
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum
Feldstrasse 11a
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
 
Hope to hear from you as soon as possible. Thank you best in advance.
 
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> For about 30 years, no Cypraea semiplota were found alive in Hawaii to
> the best of anyone's knowledge in HMS.  At one time they were reported
> to have been very common very close to the shore.
>
> We were still able to find dead shells, particularly on the remote
> western islands, but no live shells.  Then one day a collector reported
> finding a live shell on the North shore of Oahu.  After that there were
> sparse reports of finding them on the South shore, and increasing
> numbers of deadshells.
>
> My boat group decided to find where they lived, and started diving in
> the general area with most beach shells.  We moved a few hundred yards
> down the coast each dive for about a month or so, and then found them in
> 40 to 90 feet under rubble with black algae on top.  At about the same
> time, people also started finding large specimens on the reef flats near
> Pearl Harbor entrance.  Since that time they have been found regularly
> when looking in the correct places.
>
> Aloha,
>
> Wes
>