Cypraea ventriculus

by Jim Rodgers

This is a very pretty shell and is one that any collector can be proud to have in his/her collection, especially if it was self collected. It is an extremely hard shell to get in GEM condition because of where it lives. Nearly always they are found with slight nicks or growth lines on them. This is a shallow water shell that is usually found right at the surf line in white water. There are several good places on the island where they can be found and a few of the most common areas are: Hospital Point, Orote Cliffs, Glass Breakwater, behind the University of Guam Marine Lab, and to the right of Talofofo Bay. At most of these places, the shell can be found (on a calm day, with little or no surf) by walking up to the edge of the reef and looking down into the crevices as the wave receeds.After locating one, you have to wait for the next wave to come in and as it goes back out, dart down and get the shell in a hurry or the next wave will come in and probably knock you down. If you are snorkeling and it is calm, you have to remember to look right at the waters edge or under the ledges. At Oroted Cliffs, it is another story, because there are a lot of caves right at the waters edge and about the only time you enter them and do any good is at a low tide and very calm surf. Upon entering these caves, you have to be very careful because sometimes they are the home of a 5 or 6 foot eel and he doesn't like being disturbed. A light is a must, because some of these caves go back into the cliff 25 or 30 fteet and it is quite dark. If it is the least bit rough, there will be a surge of water going in and out. If a medium surge comes in while you are in the cave and you are not braced against the edge or holding on real tight, you will find yourself sliding back toward the mouth of the cave (dodging the edges) real fast. I have experienced this two times, once breaking my little finger, and the other time losing one of my fins. Now, what I do to feel comfortable is to swim up to the edge of the cave, take my fins, mask and snorkel off and put them upon a dry rock at the entrance of the cave. I proceed carefully. This way I can brace myself. The only things that I have in my hands is my light. I put the shells in my pant's pockets, rather than a small bag, because this way, they are better protected and the bag doesn't get caught on the pieces of coral in the cave.

The first experience I had about going into caves was in the Double Reef area on an incoming tide. The surf was fairly calm and the water was still a little low. One of the guys decided that we would go back into this one long cave to see if we could find any Cypraea ventriculus. I followed him in until I got to the point the top of my snorkle was hitting the top of the cave. I stopped and raised my head out of the water as much as I could and got my buddies attention. I wanted to go back out, where we could stand up and talk. After doing this, I explained that there was very little breathing room now and there was going to be less later on as the tide came in. He said that there was no problem, because there was a cave about 25 feet farther in. I didn't take too much to the idea and voiced my opinion, about not wanting to stay in that area for at least six more hours until the next low tide. I knew that I couldn't swim back out that 50 foot passage way (against the current) holding my breath. I told him that if he wanted to go in, then he would be going in by himself, because I wasn't going. He followed me back outside.