Cypraea Aurantium with white line across?

[paul monfils]

Such a light band can result from a fish nipping a piece out of the edge of a mollusk's mantle, where the pigment-secreting cells are located.  Sometimes the band starts somewhere on top of the dorsum, and proceeds around to the lip, indicating the degree of growth at the time the damage occurred. In this case it must have happened while the cowrie was still juvenile.  I've never seen such a colorless band in an aurantium but I have seen such a band in a number of other kinds of gastropod shells, including a few Cypraea species. There are no standard prices for such unique specimens.  It's worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  <span class="petit">--Last edited by Paul Monfils on 2009-08-19 03:21:14 --</span>