Shells from Kalba beach in Sharjah, UAE

[urright4me]

Hello, I am a new visitor to your site, and am really enjoying it.  I pick up shells on my travels, but have never thought of myself as a "collector".  It has been fun identifying some of my finds.

I recently found these shells on the beach in Sharjah, UAE (near Fujairah) on New Year's Eve of this past year.  I cannot seem to find any pictures of shells exactly like these.  They seem to be muricidae, but the ones I've seen are whitish.  These have a beautiful blue-ish tinge with darker rust colored striping.  Can anyone tell me what they are?  I'm having a hard time getting the smell out, and if they weren't so unique and beautiful, I'd throw them out.  Thanks!

Please forgive me if I'm doing this wrong, I'm trying to follow the instructions for posting my picture...
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http://www.shutterfly.com/lightbox/view....07a7b1fe91

Hmmm....it doesn't appear that I've done this correctly.  But above is the link to my photo on Shutterfly.  Maybe someone can also tell me what I've done wrong to put my photo in the message.

Karen Carpenter

Trying again with the photo....hope this works!
http://www.badongo.com/pic/14218610

[dave r]

Hi Karen, I can't get the photos to upload but from your description these would be Murex echinodes, a new species described by my friend Roland Hourt last year. I too had some of these sent from an English friend of mine who lives in Fujairah and were from exactly the same place, I could not place them myself so sent some to him and he informed me of the name and also kindly sent the paper he had published them in.
As to the smell, soak them in a 50/50 bleach and water solution overnight then rinse with clean water.
If you have any to spare I would love to trade some with you for something else, I have many spares!
Dave.

[dave r]

Here is the species:
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The middle specimen is from the same place as yours, the top one is a live taken specimen. Both are mine.
Dave

[urright4me]

Dave R, that middle one in your picture is exactly what mine look like.  I have three of them, some of the spines are broken.  There were hundreds of them caught up in the fishing nets on the beach.  I took mine from the sand.  The ones in the nets were still living creatures, 2 of mine had things inside.

I've soaked them in bleach, boiled them in water and have now frozen them.  Still very smelly.  One still has the cover protector inside, not sure what that little protective piece is called.  I did read that some people like to save them to show they were caught live.  Why is that?  Shell collecting is new to me.

I'd be happy to trade you one.  I can email you my pictures if you'd like to take a closer look and pick one.What have you got to trade?  My "collection" (if you can call it that) is mostly from the beaches of the UAE, a few from the Maldives.  I'd love something I don't have, which is a lot.

Karen

[dave r]

Hi Karen, I would dearly love a few 'live' ones if you ever travel that way again. The dead ones seem to wash up fairly regularly but as you mention always have broken spines. If you soak them in bleach then plug the aperture with cotton wool the smell should not be a problem. What I would dearly love is a whole live one preserved in alcohol so I could get it DNA tested but I know that would be impractical, but as 'fresh' a one as possible wou7ld be great (or even a few, I would gladly trade plenty of specimens with you). Oh and the little 'trap door' part is very important too, it is called the Operculum and is usually glued to some cotton wool and placed in a natural position in the aperture ( opening ) but just put it in with any shells you get, that will be fine.
Any specimens you could get would be greatly appreciated as I specialise in and study this particular family of shells.
By the way, my friend who got them before is Emily Wray, she says she knows you and sees you in the gym now and again, small world eh?  ;D
I will send a P.M. with my email address if you want to talk some more.
Cheers,
Dave