Last week, I wrote about finding a horned helmet snail
-- pu puhi in Hawaiian. The big shell measured about 12 inches long and
was mostly buried in the sand. I saw the snail because my dive master
spotted its topmost nob, or spire, and pointed it out.
About horned helmet shells, marine author John Hoover
writes, "In early Hawaii the tip of the spire was knocked off and the
shell was blown like a trumpet."
I wrote that these were the only shells ancient Hawaiians used for horns.
That's wrong. They also tooted Triton's trumpets. "The Triton's trumpet is
large enough to be used as a trumpet," a reader e-mailed me, "and
historically, it was the shell used by Polynesians. The use of helmet
shells for this purpose is relatively recent in history."
I don't know which shell the ancients blew first, but I do know that
Triton's trumpet snails are widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific,
including Hawaii. At their maximum of about 20 inches long, these snails
are the second largest in the world. The largest is Australia's Syrinx
aruanus, which looks like a giant top and reaches 28 inches long.
Encrusting marine organisms often grow on the outside of Triton's trumpets
shells, but when clean, they look like the plumage of pheasants. And like
most animals with beautiful shells, Triton's trumpets are now rare because
of collecting.
Like the horned helmets, Triton's trumpets eat sea urchins, but they also
eat crown-of-thorn starfish. When these coral-eating starfish go
unchecked, they can devastate coral reefs.
One friend e-mailed me that, oddly, he had never thought of these big
shells as snails before I wrote about them as such. Since most people
never see the live animal in its shell, this is a common oversight.
When I'm shopping, I now view every seashell I see as the skeleton of a
once-living marine animal that had a special place on the reef or ocean
floor. This kills any urge I have to buy anything bearing shells.
Also, when I'm lucky enough to find a snail while diving, I admire it and
then put it back where I found it.
The Triton's trumpet snail got its name from the Greek god of the sea,
Triton, who blew a shell trumpet to calm the waves. We Hawaii sailors
often wish for a little of that magic when crossing the rough channels
between our islands.
The reader who wrote me about helmet and trumpet snails also stated that
helmet shells are not pink inside, as I wrote, but yellow.
The picture in my best Hawaii shell book looks pink and I could have sworn
the ones at those roadside stands are pink too. But then, I've never
stopped to look at them closely. Maybe they're selling another species,
such as queen conchs (pronounced konks).
If this is true, the shells are imported. Queen conchs are native only to
the Caribbean and tropical Atlantic. These snails grow to 12 inches long
and are also used as horns in their native areas. Queen conchs are cream
colored outside and lovely pink inside.
Besides being beautiful, queen conchs are good to eat, a combination that
nearly wiped out the lovely snails. In 1986 the U.S. banned all harvesting
of queen conchs in American waters.
I have no idea what kinds of shells are being sold in those roadside
stands, but I soon will. I'll be stopping at the next one I see.
