What Kind of Snail Could be This Pearl

[edrodrivaz]

Is pearl of snail?

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Looks like melo melo to me.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Scientific classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Hypsogastropoda
clade Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Muricoidea
Family: Volutidae
Genus: Melo
Species: M. melo

The common name is Indian Volute, but many call it the Bailer Shell, presumably because they are often used to bail small boats. It's a carnivorous gastropod and is a well known producer of natural pearls.

 

[edrodrivaz]

Thanks for your explanation.

This pearl was found, in Baja California on the Sea of Cortez

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

I'm not aware of M. melo in la Mar de Cortez. I noticed your website has several examples of Lithopoma undosa. How does this pearl compare to those?

Normally M. melo range in the southern oceans of Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, South China Sea and the Philippines.

 

[edrodrivaz]

These pearls have been found in this type of sea snail in Pacific Ocean ( in coast of Baja California)

Name (Astraea) (Lithopoma undosa)

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

You have a terrific collection.

I love Baja, having been there several times by road or sea. Where are you located?

 

[edrodrivaz]

City of Vista, California.

 

[CLICLASP]

Could this one be a cassis pearl?

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Could this one be a cassis pearl?

At first, I thought it possible too, but from what information I could gather about cassis, they seem to be limited to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

 

[edrodrivaz]

More pictures of this pearl.

 

[Caitlin]

Is that a flame structure in the first pearl?

How fascinating, this is a new kind of pearl to many of us, me included.

What is the large rough surfaced thing on the bottom right of the photo with a lot of them?

 

[pattye]

Yes, I thought I saw a bit of flame pattern also. Could you please photograph the awesome collection of pearls against a white paper towel? It would help to see the pearls' true colors better than against red. Thanks very much for sharing your finds!

What a particularly exciting morning here on the forum!

 

[CLICLASP]

I am wondering about Bursidae "giant frogshell" , looks like some pearls I have photos from this snail

 

[edrodrivaz]

Thanks for your comment Caitlin and members of this forum

More photos of this pearl.

 

[edrodrivaz]

Hello Pattye

Here are some photographs with sunlight.

 

[SteveM]

How fascinating, this is a new kind of pearl to many of us, me included.

'Wavy Turban' pearls. Yes, these are new here. But as CliClasp has intimated, they are indistinguishable from many other non-nacreous gastropod pearls. Looking at this species' 'specs', 80mm diameter appears to be already a large specimen, so size of pearls would be similarly limited.

 

[edrodrivaz]

Hi Smetzler.

My question is

Exist such wavy turban snail in this area?

This pearl was found, in off coast Baja California (Sea of ​​Cortez)

 

[SteveM]

These pearls have been found in this type of sea snail in Pacific Ocean ( in coast of Baja California)

Name (Astraea) (Lithopoma undosa)

_________________

 

[edrodrivaz]

Photo of the pearls. (wavy turban) of sea of Ocean pacific (Lithopoma Astraea undosa)