2 unknown cowries from lembeh !?

could not find them in my books !

the black one was at night.

the first one's easy - that's the juvenile of an egg cowrie Ovula ovum. The second one is harder. From the shape it's an ovulid (spindle cowrie) rather than a true cowrie and it should be on a gorgonian or other cnidarian. they're masters of camouflage as the mantles match the shape & color of the host species. Unfortunately most of the ovulids are known only from their shells. I sent a message to Cookmedoc and Pagojoe who are mollusc specialists to drop by & take a look.

Leslie is right, the first one is the juvenile Ovula ovum - the colors match with certain nudibranches - which are poisonous - and the juvenile of this large common sea cucumber.

The second one is a fantastic photo: it is a Volva volva crawling on the bottom. Same family.

Photos of this species alive a rarities: I've dredged one piece at 80 m deep in the central Philippines and photographed it, but in 1300 dives in all sort of biotopes we could never photograph one. Apparently the species is 60 m and down, from where... fishermen take them in quantities between 100 and 150 m on gravel and mud bottoms.

I here attach an image to show how the shell of this amazing animal looks like. Volva volva, family OVULIDAE.

Thanks Guido! I was sure you would recognize it. Is much known about it's food & host?

Knowing the name I did a google search & learned 2 things: "volva" is also the term for the fleshy cup at the base of mushrooms and Google can't tell the difference between "volva" and "volvo". There were 2 images of live animals from New South Wales and South Africa.

http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/...lva_volva).html

http://www.calacademy.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4368

Leslie & All,

The photo from Scuba equipment is probably the same as on:

http://www.daveharasti.com/nelsonbay/seasl...Volva_volva.jpg

The fabulous shot shows the host: the gorgonian, and below the shell are the egg capsules of Volva volva. This is most probably a "première".

It also proves that the species lives within diving depths. All by all the Volva volva has been photographed at least 4 times by now.

Leslie & All,

 

The photo from Scuba equipment is probably the same as on:

 

http://www.daveharasti.com/nelsonbay/seasl...Volva_volva.jpg

 

The fabulous shot shows the host: the gorgonian, and below the shell are the egg capsules of Volva volva. This is most probably a "première".

 

It also proves that the species lives within diving depths. All by all the Volva volva has been photographed at least 4 times by now.

it was found at lembeh/hairball 1 or 2 in aprox.15m depth

The fabulous shot shows the host: the gorgonian, and below the shell are the egg capsules of Volva volva. This is most probably a "première".It also proves that the species lives within diving depths. All by all the Volva volva has been photographed at least 4 times by now.

Interesting to here that Volva volva is considered to be rare. I've photographed it several times at Fly point in Port Stephens in depths from 6-10 metres. It is generally found feeding on the yellow gorgonian Euplexaura sp and I've also seen it feeding on Dendronephthya sp.

below is a pic of it in the soft corals.

cheers,

Dave

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