Ross,

Please refer to page 95 in Vol. 24, #2 of Of Sea and Shore magazine where we
present hypercallous cowries from Phuket in glorious color (one of 36 pages
of color in the issue!). The image labeled "l" is a nearly 100% niger Cyp.
mauritiana from that area of Thailand. I will attempt to gather more
locality data when I go there next month to work on our next issue (Vol. 24
#4).

Regards,

Tom Rice, Editor
Of Sea & Shorfe Publications
P.O. Box 219
Port Gamble, WA 98364
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www.ofseaandshore.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ross Mayhew" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 5:34 PM
Subject: Melanistic Cypraea tigris (95%!) from Thailand


> There are some fantastic melanistic shells such as Cyp. tigris and
> Cymbiola vespertillio (and Cymatium piliare!) coming out of Thailand
> these days - i found a good one at
>  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1082912352 .   The
> people who sell them either do not know or seem reluctant to disclose
> the locality of these specimens.  I have 2 questions:
>
> 1) How long have these been coming out of Thailand?  I heard of a few
> about 2 years ago, but do not recall any highly melanistic shells from
> this country much before that.  Could it be due to a pollution source
> that puts large amounts of nickel & iron in the water?
>
> 2) where is this locality?  Is there only one, or are there several?
>
> From the great non-nuclear-but-still-wet North,
> Ross M.
>