Date:         Mon, 30 Apr 2001 20:15:48 +0300
Reply-To:     Conchologists of America List <CONCH-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sender:       Conchologists of America List <CONCH-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Henk and Zvia Mienis <mienis@NETZER.ORG.IL>
Subject:      Human uses of opercula - 3
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

Here is the first part dealing with calcareous opercula

Human uses of opercula 3. Ornamental uses of Turbo opercula

The thick calcareous opercula of Turbo species have been exploited for a variety of ornamental purposes. Best known is the so-called Cat's eye: the operculum of the common Indo-Pacific species Turbo petholatus. Even today it is still used for the production of jewelry: rings, earrings and pendants.
Similar sized opercula of other species have been used far less for the same purpose, although I have seen rings and pendants made out of the peculiarly pustulated operculum of the South African Turbo sarmaticus.
Small Turbo opercula have been used also as eyes in such ethnographical objects as masks and fetishes (see: L. Pfeiffer, 1914. Die steinzeitliche Muscheltechniek und ihre Beziehungen zur Gegenwart, 15, fig. 12).
The use of the heavy operculum of the Green Turban Turbo marmoratus as a paperweight has been wel documented in many popular shellbooks.
On the Isle of Ifugoa, the Philippines, belts were made of opercula of Green Turban snails in which the large central specimen represented a deity causing difficulty by birth (see: J. Fearer Safer & F. McLaughlin Gill, 1982. Spirals of the Sea - an anthropological look at shells, 142 textfig.).
Hardly known is the fact that the same huge opercula are being used locally for paving paths in Indonesia. An ornamental garden path in Sabang, Pulau We, Sumatera, has been described and illustrated by W.S.S. van Benthem Jutting (1950: Ornamental use of opercula of Turbo marmoratus. The Amsterdam Naturalist, 1 (3): 93-94, fig.2). The quoted figure shows the proud owner of the garden sitting near the entrance of his house with the "Turbo"-path stretching out in front of him. The path is 11 opercula wide, with the smooth convex sides of the opercula laying upwards, and is bordered at both sides by an additional operculum placed up right in the ground. This makes the path 13 opercula wide and at least 35 opercula long (the end of the path is not visible on the photograph), which means that at least 455 opercula had been used. The opercula were a byproduct of the local Turbo marmoratus fisheries for the Mother-of-Pearl industry.

Noteworthy is still the fact that Turbo marmoratus (and Trochus niloticus) are still being fished on a commercial scale and even propagated artificially. A journal devoted to this subject is being published by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community in a printed and electronic form. All seven issues published so far are available at: www.spc.org.nc/coastfish/News/Trochus/Troc.html 

Henk K. Mienis
National Mollusc Collection
Dept. Evolution, Systematics & Ecology
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
IL-91904 Jerusalem, Israel 
mienis@netzer.org.il 

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