At 12:00 AM 7/25/2004, you wrote:
>Conch-Lers,
>
>Seeing Paul Kanner's query about his mystery shell made me realize I might
>be able to solve a mystery with the help of the folks on Conch-L.  I have
>some small nerites that are coated with a coralline encrustation.  Of
>course, putting that title on it does not mean I know what it is.  Is it a
>natural encrustation like a buildup of lime or is it caused by an animal
>like a bryozoan?  Big mystery.  I have seen it on three or four freshwater
>nerite species.  Thanks to the generosity of Bill Frank and the Jacksonville
>Shell Club Web Page you can see one of my shells at:
>http://www.jaxshells.org/tome.htm
>
>If anyone has any ideas of what this is, I would love to hear from you.
>Thanks,
>
>Thomas E. Eichhorst

This may not answer Tom's question, but I collected some totally encrusted
Vittina variegata in a steep stream -- cascade actually -- near Port Vila,
Éfaté Is., Vanuatu, in 1995. As I recall, the entire bottom of the stream,
made up of solid rocks, was encrusted with the same material. It wasn't
until Glenn Duffy pointed them out, that I noticed the well-camouflaged
Nerites. The encrustation was easy to crack off, and I kept only one
specimen with it on. In this case, it seems to be a buildup of lime.

John

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