Submitted by admin on April 23, 2009 - 00:21
CARRIER SHELL
(Xenophora neozelanica).
A rare deep-water species of the northern part of the North Island, it is a wonderful example of the art of camouflage for, in order to escape detection, the shellfish cements to the back of its shell bits and pieces of shell and rock from the surrounding debris of the sea bottom. It is even careful to cement odd valves of bivalves with the concave side uppermost, thus emphasising their emptiness to prowling carnivorous fish. The carrier is about 3 in. across and lives in from 20–50 fm.
by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.