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Comments |
I have been collecting Hawaiian seashell species only for 19 years. To establish which species to collect, I had several emails with the then-department heads of Hawaii University, Dr. Allison Kay and Dr. Burgess. I was sent to the Bishop Museum which for Hawaii, is the equivalent of the Smithsonian Institute for the USA. I acquired a complete list of the recognized species of Hawaiian seashells, endemic and indigenous, and began collecting them from all over the world, trying to find every specie taking one family at a time. The total known species is changing all the time, but it is around 900. I have about 600 in my collection, but I have nearly every one of the rarist and most wanted.
Common Hawaiian shells are rare because of the youthful age and isolation of the Hawaiian archipelago; this makes the rarist Hawaiian shells very rare indeed. |
