Hi, Conch-Lers!

I remember that an ex club member, who was a micro zoologist, or something similar, did a show exhibit on color in shells.   Now that I go over it again in my mind, I think he mentioned three possible factors - the pigment of a molluscs food, e.g., color of algae or other plant material consumed;
secondly, the presence of unusual trace elements in the water, and third, genetics.   An example of the latter might be two Chama maceropylla that I have; they are cemented side by side on a rock, yet one is purple, the other is yellow.

I wish someone would do more research on this.   By the way, I have a Cypraea tigris with no data, but too big to be anything other than the Hawaiian form, with a decidedly orangish yellow color to the background.   Now what caused that?   Could certain pollutants, short of destroying molluscan life, cause a change i color?   Melanistic color and rostrate form may also be linked to something unusual along the same lines as the
uncharacteristic blue in the cones Ross mentioned.

What do you thing?
Linda