Hello,
Without venturing in a correct name-giving to the shells figured on
Animals4ever and Conus marmoreus, I can join the following: at two occasions
I collected this particular Conus on Moustique Island where it is living in
heavy surf at depths between 1 and 5 meters. (truly heavy: one day two out
of three divers came out of the water severely hurt and bleeding). The
species is living in the roots of something that strongly resembles the
Mediterranean Posidonia. Big waves dig channels in these algae fields, and
the dead shells are found there, together with a small Conus that resembles
a miniature aurantius. While we found several dozen of dead shells the
living thing was a challenge. So with big effort we managed to get on the
spot with Scuba-gear at night, and succeeded in finding two living animals:
these are bright carmine-red and the shells almost black, in fact, very very
dark chocolate with pure white spots. My experience is that the colours of
this Conus varies between almost black chocolate brown and pure
porcelain-white. All the other browns, from cream-chocolate to reddish are
different stages of shortly dead collected or long-dead and even sub-fossil
shells, washed up from the bottom by the surf.
Best regards, Guido
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> From: Bill Fenzan <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 00:27:35 +0100
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Looking for Conus couderti picture
>
> David,
>
> Since the location of the holotype of Conus couderti Bernardi, 1860 is not
> known, it is hard to identify this species with certainty. Collecting
> locality for the type is also not known. Coomans, Moolenbeek and Wils
> provided a black and white reproduction of the original drawing in their
> discussion of this species in Basteria, Vol. 48, No. 6 (1985). Coomans et
> al. provisionally considered Conus couderti to be nomen dubium. Most
> collectors I know who have studied the type illustration believe the shell
> is Conus erythraeensis Reeve, 1843, a species found in the vicinity of the
> Red Sea, not a caribbean shell at all.
>
> The shells usually illustrated and identified as Conus couderti are Conus
> archetypus beddomei Sowerby, 1901 according to Danker Vink. This is the
> name I place on specimens of the shell illustrated in the web site link that
> Bruce Livett sent you. It is found in the Grenedines and has a wide range
> of pattern (from solid brown to mottled white/brown zig-zags) that sometimes
> make it hard to believe you are looking at shells of the same species.
>
> Since application of the name C. couderti to this shell was made by Petuch
> and Anders in 1979 this name has been confused. On at least one dealer list
> I have seen both C. couderti and C. beddomei listed simultaneously. Despite
> a good article in Hawaiian Shell News in 1980 and a subsequent discussion of
> this issue a few years later in La Conchiglia - both by Danker Vink, the
> name C. couderti is still sometimes applied to C. archetypus beddomei.
>
> Hope this information helps.
>
> William J. Fenzan
> 401 Sinclair St.
> Norfolk, VA 23505-4359
> USA
>
> wjf401(at)earthlink.net
>
> Phone: (757) 489-4736
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: david touitou <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 8:41 AM
> Subject: Looking for Conus couderti picture
>
> Hi all !!
> I am looking for a picture of a C. couderi (Caribbean).
> For identification.
>
> Thanks,
> David
> ______________________________________________________
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