pearly trochidae

[paul monfils]

Hi, me again ...  I ran a little experiment.  Though the evidence seemed to point to Tegula pellisserpentis, I wasn't completely satisfied with the idea of a large heavy brown and black shell being eroded into a smooth pearly shell with bright green highlights.  So, I took a small T. pellisserpentis (22 mm), and dropped it into vinegar for a few hours.  The vinegar, being acidic, erodes away the shell chemically, simulating the way rolling around in the sand erodes a shell physically.  The result was pretty interesting:

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