I am cheating by combining two posts, responding to them as one, as they
both involve Qs about the bubbleshell.

>KKV writes:
>>My favrite pic is the bubbleshell. In all my years of night dives
>>in the Swan I've only chanced across a LIVE bubbleshell ONCE.

>On Thu, 12 Aug 2004, Crusty Russ <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
<snip of the kiwi shears>
>I've got some favorites of those, too!   The dragonet is very nice
>and the tube anemone  appears to glow from within, but the bubbleshell
>is simply spectacular.  How big is it, I can't tell.

It is the largest bubbleshell I have ever seen - shell size about 1 & 1/2
inches in length and just over an inch in height.  I picked it up after I
had photographed it to get an idea of the size of the mantle .. covered
most of my hand.  I am always on the lookout for bubbleshells while beach-
combing but those have always been quite small in size, most just a little
larger than a mans thumbnail.  To see this one in all its glory, alive!!
was certainly a privilege.

The majority of those Swan River piccies were taken on the 2nd dive with
the Nik V & 1:3 helix extension tube.  The first dive I was using the
Nikonos close-up kit & 35mm lens - but most of that roll ended up in the
bin due to the amount of silt stirred up by the prawners .. was like being
in a snow storm so most of the pics crap.   Second dive we got down there
half an hour earlier than the other hunter-gatherers so were ahead of
everyone up-river so the majority of that roll are keepers.

In regards to your comment about the tube anemone appearing to glow from
within ... they certainly do .. they actually remind me of fireworks. I
love shining my dive light on them, to help attract minute critters their
way, so I can watch them feeding on whatever happenes to come within their
reach.

>On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 Ray Jones <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
<snip>
>Thank you so much for putting your WONDERFUL pictures on display.
>My favorite picture was also the bubble shell. Several years ago I
>was diving a place here called Navarre Bridge rubble. I hadn't been
>diving that long but I came across THREE bubble shells all in a line
>on the top of the rubble. I didn't know what they were so I took one
>to identify it. I was amazed at their beauty and now that I know how
>rare they are I have felt guilty all of these years for taking one.
>
>I've never seen another one. I was surprised at looking at your
>pictures that they looked the same as the ones I saw. I would have
>figured that the species would be a little different.

The common name here for this bubble shell is Rose petal :-), due to its
colour.  Check out the following link and you will see many pics of this
bubble shell showing the variations in colour and banding of the shell,
and the variations in colour of the mantle itself.  Surprise, surprise ..
the first pic itself was taken at Shelly Beach - Strike's stomping ground.

http://www.seaslugforum.net/hydaphys.htm

>Viv, you've got a great eye and talent. Thanks for sharing. I look
forward to seeing you again in LaPaz.

Nah, no talent to those pics .. they were all 'point & shoot' :-)  My
type of uw photography is really what they call 'fish identification'.

Yeah, looking forward to seeing ya'll in La Paz .. shame Jeff has dropped
out .. oh, well, more Tim Tam's for us then ;-)
Viv