Was this from Mark Poland? He sent me the pictures too and I was just trying to get the picture into an e-mail when your note arrived. I told him it was phosphorescence and we determined the shell was not painted. That is now clear from the pictures. Yes, I think it is Melongena bispinosa. The pictures are impressive. I don't have a sample of M. bispinosa to test. Does anyone have one to look at in the dark? > -----Original Message----- > From: Monfils, Paul [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Monday, October 25, 1999 7:25 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Phosphorescent Seashell? > > Hello Conch-L'ers, > I recently posted a request for help in identifying a shell, a picture of > which was posted on Bret Raines' web site. Andrew kindly identified it as > Melongena bispinosa. I thought you might be interested in the story of > this > shell. A gentleman contacted the American Museum of Natural History, who > referred him to me (probably, I suspect, as a result of a recent article I > wrote on fluorescence in shells). The man said he has a basket of shells > in > his bathroom, and he recently noticed that one of the shells "glowed in > the > dark" for several minutes after the room lights were turned off. He > wanted > to know if I had ever heard of this phenomenon, or if he had made a > "discovery". I e-mailed him back and as diplomatically as possible asked > how much experience he has with shells, and if he was sure the shell in > question was real, and not a manmade copy. He was very forthright and > told > me he has no experience with shells whatsoever, but that he thought the > shell looked real. Subsequently he photographed the specimen and sent me > several images. I also thought the shell looked real, but didn't > recognize > the species, so I made a composite of his images, and asked Bret to post > it > on his site. So, now I know the species - but I still don't know why the > shell glows in the dark. Maybe it is due to some kind of alga or > microorganism that is dried on the shell? Or could it actually be a > characteristic of the species? I don't have a specimen of this species on > hand. Does anyone have a specimen which they can check to see if it > exhibits phosphorescence? Most recently, the owner of the shell has sent > me > some images which he captured by doing time exposures in the dark, totally > by the light emitted by the shell. Incidentally, the difference between > phosphorescence and fluorescence, in practical terms, is that > phosphorescence persists after the incident radiation has been removed. > Regards, > Paul M.