[NHCOLL-L:2473] Re: [Fwd: Sea Shell damage]

[Richard Rego]

Hello All,    

 Could it be Byne's Disease?  Shells kept in a humid environment and in wooden drawers or wooden lined cabinets (or other acid producing materials, like unbuffered storage trays) will become etched over time from acids that condense on the shells.  Usually a powdery coating will form upon the shells.  This "disease" is most noticable on glosst shells such as Cypraeidae and Ovulidae, however it affects almost all other shells.

    If you see this type of damage, then there is no reversing it.  You can, however, stop the further damage by storing the shells properly in an acid free environment.  Before transferring the specimens to new storage, they should all be immersed in distilled water to remove any acidic residue from the shells.

    A quick Google (or similar) search should bring up a couple of articles on Byne's Disease, most done by advanced private shell collectors.  The Conchologist's of America website http://coa.acnatsci.org/conchnet/ has a couple of articles on Byne's Disease.

    Hope this helps, as that's what the problem sounds like to me.

R.J. Rego

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Shirley S Albright 
  To: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu ; jfahey at SIUE.EDU 
  Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 9:00 AM
  Subject: [NHCOLL-L:2472] [Fwd: Sea Shell damage]


  Hello listers!

  I'm forwarding this request for help from another list.   Since Jerry may not be a subcriber to this list, perhaps your answers could be forwarded to both lists as well as to Jerry.   Thanks a bunch.

  Frankly, I don't know what this could be....unless there is some kind of acidic condensation.   Is it possible the holes just were not noticed previously?   There are invertebrate borers which leave circular and subcircular holes in shell.

  Any suggestions?

  Shirley Albright
  New Jersey State Museum

  -------- Original Message -------- Subject:  Sea Shell damage 
        Date:  Tue, 16 Nov 2004 15:58:33 -0600 
        From:  Jerry Fahey <jfahey at SIUE.EDU> 
        Reply-To:  Museum discussion list <MUSEUM-L at HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> 
        To:  MUSEUM-L at HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM 



There are small pin holes showing up in quite a few of our sea shell 
collection.
Is anyone aware of an insect that feeds off sea shells? Or what could be 
causing this?
Thanks for any info you can provide.

Jerry Fahey
Exhibits Designer
The University Museum
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
Edwardsville, Illinois 62026 USA

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